Tehran (IP) - The leader of Friday Prayers in Tehran, Iran's capital, says the US-driven NATO's provocations will complicate the situation in the region.

Iran PressIran news: Russia has launched "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Thursday. Russia's President Vladimir Putin says he had no other choice than to launch the military operation to stop the Ukrainian military's interference in two eastern republics that have broken away from Ukraine. Russia perceives NATO's eastward expansion as a threat.

At the Friday Prayer sermon on February 25, 2022, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami referred to Ukraine's developments and Russia's operations on Ukrainian soil. He said the Islamic Republic of Iran invited all countries involved in the conflict to dialogue and self-restraint. 

Khatami also said that Iran was concerned about killing innocent people amid the conflict, emphasizing: "The US-led NATO provocations would complicate and possibly further complicate the situation in the region."

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While the West was fueling the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Islamic Republic of Iran urged the two sides to restrain and solve the problems through negotiations to establish peace and stability, the top cleric noted.

In the latest development, reports of gunfire in central Kyiv emerged Friday morning with Russian military forces entering the capital city, inching closer towards the government's seat of power.

Ukraine knew itself as an ally of the US.

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