MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Tuesday urged all parties to refrain from escalation over Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would support another massive strike on the Islamic Republic.
Flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested on Monday that Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programmes after a U.S. strike in June. Iran denies it has a nuclear weapons programme.
“I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a news conference.
Moscow, which has cultivated closer ties with Tehran since the start of its war in Ukraine, urged de-escalation.
“We believe that it is necessary to refrain from any steps that could escalate tensions in the region, and we believe that, first and foremost, dialogue with Iran is necessary,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said Russia would continue to cultivate close ties with Iran.
U.S. forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites after joining Israel’s 12-day military campaign against Tehran in June. Trump said at the time that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s facilities, although a U.S. assessment later found the attacks had mostly damaged only one of the sites, Fordow.
Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership treaty this year. The West has accused Tehran of providing missiles and drones for Russian attacks on Ukraine, something the Islamic Republic denies.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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