A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Islamic Republic’s position is close to that of Moscow on the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The spokesman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini, said on Wednesday that NATO has gone far beyond its territory in recent years and has faced a response from Russia.

He described the Russian attack on Ukraine as “a precautionary measure” to push NATO back to its place, noting that NATO did the same to Iran. “To surround us, they occupied Iraq and Afghanistan and imposed war on Syria, and the Islamic Republic helped to prevent larger wars at the request of their governments”, he added.

Abbaszadeh-Meshkini noted that there is a common problem in the world, and that is “the Westerners have expanded their hegemony with the help of NATO and are occupying wherever they want under the name of ‘preventive war’”.

The Islamic Republic has subtly supported Russia since the invasion began by accusing the United States and NATO of provoking the conflict.

Pundits and media in Iran are still heatedly debating the Russian invasion of Ukraine, West's reaction and Iran's official stance of implied support for Russia.

Iran’s state media and hardliner outlets have avoided using the word ‘invasion,’ while conservative and reformist media have in some instances criticized Russia for the invasion or expressed more nuanced views.