Moscow sends veiled warning to Israel over Iranian blast
Russia made an implied threat against Israel and the US on Monday while condemning a recent drone strike on an Iranian weapons facility.
A statement issued by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and published in the state-owned Tass News Agency said, “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. Such destructive actions could have unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East.”
“That has to be understood by the organisers 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,” the statement added.
A military facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan was rocked by several explosions on Sunday in what Iranian officials described as a “coordinated drone strike.”
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, though US reports attributed it to Israel.
Professor Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University told the Tazpit Press Service that Israel shouldn’t take Moscow’s veiled threat too seriously.
“As long as the Russians don’t take action, it’s more of the same,” Prof. Zisser told TPS, who noted that Moscow has previously condemned Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.
Reports suggest that the Isfahan facility was producing either Shahab medium-range missiles or advanced Shahed-136 drones. Iran acknowledged in November that it provided drones to Russia but denies reports that it has agreed to supply missiles as well.
“I doubt Israel was after Russia. They were after their own interests,” Prof. Zisser told TPS. “In the long run, Russia and Iran may get closer, and Israel will have to be more careful.”
The Russian military has been using Iranian “suicide drones” to attack Ukrainian infrastructure. Moscow reportedly seeks Tehran’s ballistic missiles for the same task, which further complicate Israeli-Russian ties. The Russian strikes have been widely viewed as a battle test of Iranian weapons intended to be used against Israel.
Over the last decade, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against Iran and its proxies. Israel and Russia have security coordination to avoid firing on each other, but that arrangement has been strained by the war in Ukraine.
An additional Israeli-Russian tension is the Kremlin’s crackdown on the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation, which threatens Russian Jewish immigration to Israel.
