The United States should not intervene militarily in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the Kremlin has warned, amid rising speculation that President Donald Trump may order airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Speaking on Thursday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov cautioned that U.S. intervention could trigger a dangerous spiral of escalation and potentially ignite a broader war in the region.
Peskov revealed that President Vladimir Putin had discussed the Middle East crisis in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who supported Russia’s proposed mediation role. Putin is scheduled to visit China on September 2.
Addressing leading global news agencies, Putin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to the Bushehr nuclear power station in Iran, where approximately 600 Russian experts are working.
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“We will not leave,” Putin declared, emphasizing Russia’s support for the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Iran, while opposing any move towards acquiring nuclear weapons.
Alexey Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom, warned that any attack on the Bushehr facility could lead to a catastrophe comparable to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Likhachev noted that while a few dozen Russian specialists had been evacuated from Iran, there were no plans for a full withdrawal. He added that much of Iran’s underground nuclear infrastructure, including the uranium enrichment site at Natanz, had so far withstood Israeli strikes.
However, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi offered a different view, telling the BBC earlier this week that Natanz’s centrifuges were likely “severely damaged, if not completely destroyed.”
NAN
