“A very important visit” — that’s how Iran’s Foreign Ministry described Ali Akbar Velayati's trip to Russia, where Velayati, the supreme leader's foreign policy adviser, was expected to deliver messages from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani to the Russian president.

It was a hectic day at the Kremlin, which also simultaneously hosted the prime minister of Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy. Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressing Moscow to curb Iranian influence in Syria and has repeatedly warned that Tel Aviv will not tolerate a permanent Iranian presence there.

But upon his arrival in Moscow, the Iranian envoy confidently downplayed the coincidence of the visits. “Netanyahu is a hawker who keeps traveling around," he told reporters. "No one attaches any importance to his baseless and illogical remarks. His presence here does not affect our strategic mission.”

Velayati’s visit, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, is in line with a decision by the Islamic Republic to dispatch special envoys carrying messages from senior Iranian officials, aimed at clarifying Tehran’s stance toward the "selfish" behavior of the United States.