Russia says it hopes UN Security Council can help calm situation amid Israeli attack on Iran

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow hopes the UN Security Council can help calm the situation in the Middle East following recent Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend.

Israel launched three waves of airstrikes against military targets in the Iranian capital Tehran and western Iran early Saturday.

Iran’s armed forces said that while most missiles were intercepted by air defense systems, some caused "limited damage,” resulting in the deaths of five people, including four soldiers.

The Israeli attack occurred weeks after Iran launched missile strikes on targets in Tel Aviv in what it said was retaliation for the killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan.

“Of course, the Israeli strikes on Iran, which are presented as a response … is a difficult situation. They have not simplified the situation, but we hope that the Security Council will be able to somehow help calm the situation,” Lavrov said during a press conference with his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali al-Yahya in Moscow.

The UN Security Council should consider Iran's appeal regarding what happened in its session on the matter later Monday, Lavrov said, adding that he thinks “many things will become clearer” after the discussions, even though this does not mean that they should “hope for the best.”

“No, we must work,” Lavrov also said, expressing that they managed to avoid the “worst-case scenario" at the current stage.

“Here, as in the case of the Ukrainian situation, there are those who want to heat up the fire to such an extent that the US, first of all, will intervene. But I very much hope that the contacts undertaken recently will not allow this to happen,” he further said.

The Russian foreign minister also said they must reach a cease-fire in Palestine and in Lebanon, as well as agree on how to stabilize the situation in the long term and solve humanitarian problems in the region, which he said are getting worse.

“The task of creating a Palestinian state in full compliance with UN decisions is becoming more and more urgent,” he went on to say.

For his part, Kuwait’s top diplomat said his country believes that a cease-fire in the Middle East can be achieved in the near future.

“We would like the parties to the conflict to sit down at the negotiating table so that they can achieve recognition of Palestine as an independent state based on a two-state solution, since I believe that this is the only way to end this bloodbath,” he said.