The Russian foreign ministry defended Iran's massive drone and missile attack by Iran against Israel on Saturday night and called for all sides to "show restraint" following the
“We express our extreme concern over another dangerous escalation in the region," the ministry stated. “We call on all parties involved to exercise restraint.”
The Russian statement claimed that Iran's launching of about 300 drones and missiles at Israel fell within Iran's right to self-defense under the UN charter due to the assassination of a senior Iranian general in Damascus earlier this month in an airstrike Iran has blamed on Israel.
"According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, this attack was undertaken as part of the right to self-defense stipulated in Article 51 of the UN Charter in response to the attacks on Iranian targets in the region, including the strike on the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus on April 1, which our country strongly denounced. Unfortunately, due to the position adopted by its Western members, the Security Council was unable to provide a proper response to the strike on the Iranian consular mission," the statement read.
The foreign ministry blamed the UN Security Council's failure to act following the Damascus strike for the escalation of tensions in the Middle East over the last two weeks.
“We have repeatedly warned that the numerous unresolved crises in the Middle East, primarily in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, which are often fueled by irresponsible provocative actions, will lead to an increase in tension," the ministry said.
The late-night attack set off sirens throughout Israel between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. this morning. The vast majority of the projectiles were intercepted, but a seven-year-old Bedouin girl was seriously wounded as a result of the Iranian attack.
Russia has grown increasingly close with Iran in recent years, and has sided with the Hamas terrorist organization since Hamas massacred 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7.