Russia warned against an “unprecedented escalation of tension” around Iran on Thursday and urged restraint amid a U.S. military build-up in the region that a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.
U.S. threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, have pushed up oil prices and a Russian corvette on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.
Iranian and U.S. negotiators met on Tuesday and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said they had agreed on ‘guiding principles’, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday the two sides remained apart on some issues.
Iran was to make a written proposal on how to address U.S. concerns, the senior American official said.
THREAT OF WAR
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran unless they can come to a deal and has sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the region, raising the prospect of another attack on the Islamic Republic.
The United States and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and some military sites last June. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Iran on February 28, the senior U.S. official said.
Washington suspects Iran of seeking a nuclear bomb and wants it to entirely give up uranium enrichment, a process used to create fuel for atomic power plants but that can also provide material for a warhead.
It also wants Iran to give up long-range ballistic missiles, stop supporting groups around the Middle East and stop using force to quell internal protests.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb, saying its atomic programme is entirely peaceful, and says it refuses to discuss issues beyond the atomic file, calling efforts to limit its missile arsenal a red line.
Satellite pictures have tracked both Iranian work to repair and fortify sites since last summer, showing work at both nuclear and missile sites, as well as preparations at U.S. bases across the Middle East over the past month.
Iran’s joint exercise with Russia came days into an extended series of Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, with Iranian state television showing special forces units deployed on helicopters and ships.
In a sign of growing concern over the increased tensions, Poland on Thursday became the latest European country to urge its citizens to leave Iran, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poles may only have hours to evacuate.
Trump began threatening strikes on Iran again in January as Iranian authorities crushed widespread protests with deadly violence that left thousands dead across the country.
(Reporting by Reuters Dubai and Moscow newsrooms; additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Toby Chopra)