Russia has called on Israel and the United States to end their attacks on Iran and shift toward renewed negotiations in a bid to de-escalate the rapidly worsening situation in the Middle East.
The appeal for an immediate halt to the war, now in its 13th day, comes after weeks of intense bombardment between the warring nations, a conflict that has already spilled across several countries in the region.
The escalating hostilities have also rattled global oil markets, largely due to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued the call during a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, where spokesperson Maria Zakharova stressed the need for diplomacy and restraint amid rising regional tensions.
“Russia will continue to take steps to end the escalation in the Middle East as soon as possible and resolve any contradictions by peaceful means,” Zakharova said, emphasizing the need for negotiations rather than further military action.
She also raised serious humanitarian concerns, noting that the conflict has already claimed hundreds of civilian lives.
“The number of victims of the illegal military action of Washington and Tel Aviv among the civilian population of Iran, according to the authorities, is in the thousands,” she said.
The conflict began after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, triggering a broader regional confrontation that has drawn in several countries, including Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, as well as Gulf states hosting U.S. military bases.
According to state media reports, at least 1,270 people have been killed since the conflict began.
In Iran, at least 40 people were killed on Monday when an Israeli strike hit a residential area in Tehran.
The Iranian military also reported that 104 people were killed after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka last week.
In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 486 people, according to the country’s health ministry.
In Iraq, police and health officials say at least 15 people have been killed, including a commander from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, who died in an airstrike on his vehicle on March 5.
The Israeli military said two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, marking the first troop fatalities since hostilities with Hezbollah resumed last week after the group attacked Israel in support of Iran.
Israeli authorities also reported 11 civilian deaths, including nine people killed in an Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on March 1, according to the country’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom.
The United States military said seven service members have been killed in action during operations against Iran.
In Syria, four people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern city of Sweida on February 28, according to state news agency SANA.
As fighting continues across the region, global powers are increasingly calling for restraint amid fears that the conflict could spiral into a wider Middle East war.
