Moscow — Russia on Monday called for a 'political and diplomatic' settlement to the war in the Middle East after U.S. President Donald Trump set a deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to destroy power plants, while simultaneously describing the American strikes near Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant as 'dangerous'. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: 'We believe the situation should move towards a political and diplomatic settlement.' Peskov clarified that the U.S. and Israeli strikes near Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant 'pose a grave risk'. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Arachi on Monday, expressing concern over the expansion of the Iran war to the Caspian Sea. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: 'We expressed mutual concern over the dangerous expansion of the conflict ignited by Washington and Tel Aviv into the Caspian Sea region.' He added: 'This is the only thing that can contribute to de-escalating the catastrophic tension in the region'.
