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Military Strike on Iran 'Catastrophic'
MOSCOW - A Russian Foreign Ministry official warned Wednesday any military attack on Iran would have a "catastrophic" effect on the Middle East.
The anonymous
official told journalists Iran was "ready to look seriously at proposals" presented on June 14 by six world powers aimed at getting the Islamic republic to suspend uranium enrichment.
The official called Iran's attitude a "positive signal."
The comments came after US media reported that more than 100 Israeli warplanes staged a training exercise with Greece earlier this month to prepare for a
possible long-distance strike.
Western media have extensively reported about the exercises and interpreted them as a warning to Tehran.
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has a section of
border close to northern Iran in the Caucasus mountains and has been cautious about Western efforts to punish Iran over its nuclear activities.
Concern about a confrontation flared again on Tuesday when ABC News reported
that an unnamed senior US defense official said there was an increasing likelihood that Israel would attack Iran over its nuclear program.
Such a move would prompt Tehran to retaliate against both the Israeli regime and
the US, Iranian officials have warned.
The news jangled nerves and helped push oil prices up $2 a barrel, near the record $143.67 hit on Monday, on worries Tehran could move to halt shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
About 40 percent of all seaborne oil trade passes through that the Persian Gulf choke point. Iran is the world's fourth-biggest oil producer.
US officials sharply dismissed the ABC News report.
A Western
diplomat in Israel said there was no consensus in Israel in favor of an attack and the US was unlikely to act.
This is while, Israel is widely assumed to be the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons,
although it has never declared its atomic arsenal.
The US and its allies, including Israel, are spearheading efforts to pile pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program.
Officials in Tehran stress the country's
nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, including generating electricity for a growing population.
Iran also says the Western demand lacks in any legal basis as the enrichment is stipulated in the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory.
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