Russia has brutally mocked US President Donald Trump over his war in Iran, claiming Tehran has the President “by the throat.” The Russian daily paper, Kommersant, reported today: “Trump wanted to strangle Tehran, but he’s tightened the noose around his own neck,” with several other Russian media outlets mocking the American leader’s Middle East strategy.

Russian Editor Steven Rosenberg translated the Kommersant article as: “He messed up, and destroyed everything around him, but he wants someone else to clear the rubble and create a new structure. This is, of course, all about him, Donald Trump. The US president pinned Iran to the wall and practically forced it, for its own survival, to block such a key global transport artery as the Strait of Hormuz.” After doing what the paper calls a “strange political flipflop”, it now says that Trump demands that other countries such as the UK, Germany and China engage in solving in the problem in the form of an assault on Iran. “Such a formulation of the question is, of course, phenomenal cheek”, it adds, and describes this as a “permanent political characteristic” of Trump.

The paper suggested that Trump had finally met his match in Iran, saying he had tried to “strangle” the authorities in Tehran but instead ended up “tightening the noose around his own neck” – and even around countries that had no involvement in the US attack on Iran.

Rosenberg also noted that Moscow-linked commentary appeared to emphasise what it sees as the advantages of Trump’s actions.

Russian newspaper Kommersant ran the headline “Ukraine has lost the war in Iran”, adding: “Conflict in the Middle East has weakened the positions of Kyiv and its allies. Confrontation with Tehran has only strengthened President’s Trump’s intention to distance himself from Kyiv, support for whom distracts the US from its main battle.”

The paper suggested that if fighting between the US and Iran continues, American weapons supplies to Ukraine could be reduced.

Meanwhile, pro-Kremlin daily Komsomolskaya Pravda was also reported to welcome the prospect thatNATO could face difficulties stemming from an “angry US president.”

“Is it time for Nato to die?” the paper asked, claiming that America’s allies “don’t want to help Trump” in the Strait of Hormuz.

It went on to cite Donald Trump as saying Nato’s future could be “very bad” following allies’ refusal to send naval vessels to the region.

Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta also warned of “likely long term consequences” for Nato if the alliance’s “the American patron feels hard done by.”

“Patronage,” it said, “you can also use the concept ‘protection’ from the criminal world, works when the patron, deriving the main benefit from the relationship, take on certain obligations.”

The paper added that if the relationship benefits only the “protector,” and that those under its protection will inevitably “want to find an alternative.”

It concluded that, under the current system, this is difficult to imagine – adding “they cannot do it themselves” and that there is “no other protection in sight.”

Interestingly, Russian newspapers have carried extensive coverage of the 2026 Oscars – although Mr Nobody Against Putin was largely overlooked.

The film, which won the Best Documentary award, explores the alleged indoctrination of Russian schoolchildren in support of the country’s war in Ukraine.

Russian government paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta did not mention the film in its reports, nor did major dailies Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda or Moskovsky Komsomolets.

However, Nezavisimaya Gazeta did reference the documentary, writing: “Behind the dramatic title, which probably played a role in the film’s triumphant path to the Oscar, there is a non-trivial story of Chelyabinsk teacher Pavel Talankin, who after the events of February 2022, together with American director David Borenstein, began to secretly record materials for a future film about how propaganda is intensifying in one particular school.”

Meanwhile, Kommersant made only a brief mention of David Borenstein’s “political speech.”