The Russian Foreign Ministry urges Iran and Israel to refrain from actions that could escalate tensions after their tit-for-tat attacks nearly plunged the region into a wider war in April, Alexander Kinschak, head of the ministry s Middle East and North Africa Department, told Sputnik.
Iran has added UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, other military officials, as well as three UK companies to its sanctions list due to their support for Israel s actions against Palestine, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
The crew of the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries, recently detained by Iran s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, will be released, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday.
Mounting military hostilities in the Middle East escalated after Israel attacked the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, in early April. The bombing leveled the diplomatic building and killed seven officers from Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on Friday that no damage had been caused to nuclear facilities in Iran as a result of strikes on the Middle Eastern country.