Is Russia threatening Israel?
Russia's condemnation of drone attack in Iran comes while U.S. secretary of state is on official visit to the Middle East
Russia issued a statement about Saturday night's drone attack on an Iranian weapons factory, which appeared to include a veiled threat against Israel.
“We strongly condemn any provocative efforts that have the potential to provoke an uncontrolled escalation of tensions in a region that’s far from being peaceful as it is,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday, according to the TASS news agency.
“Such destructive actions could have unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East,” the Foreign Ministry stated. “That has to be understood by the organizers of the brazen raid, their backers and those who are gloating over the issue, holding on to the futile hope for the weakening of Iran.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials who were allegedly familiar with the military operation, Israeli drones were reportedly behind the strike on the munitions factory in Isfahan, a city in Iran. The targeted factory is located beside a site of the Iran Space Research Center, which Washington sanctioned for its development of Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
The Israeli government followed Jerusalem’s long-held policy of neither confirming nor denying Israeli involvement in the strike against the Iranian military facility.
“Pundits have presumed that the ‘organizers’ the Russian Foreign Ministry referenced in its statement was Israel and that the ‘backers’ it spoke of referred to the Biden administration,” wrote Tovah Lazaroff of the Jerusalem Post.
The Russian statement came during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s official visit to the Middle East, while he was in Israel meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Most of the international community have seen the true face of Iran. I think there’s a common consensus that this regime must not acquire nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told Blinken. “We’ve had very good discussions on forging a common policy, on trying to work together to thwart the danger.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
