Newscast Pratyaksha English - Newscast Pratyaksha English

Rio De Janeiro: Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov warned that the tension with Iran has reached dangerous levels and could trigger a war. This warning by the Russian Foreign Minister becomes significant against the background of seizure of the British tanker, reactivation of the Arak nuclear project and the testing of the Shahab-3 missile, by Iran. The United States and the United Kingdom indicated increasing the military deployment in the Gulf, following the seizure of the British tanker.

The tension created over the Iranian nuclear program seems to be festering further, since the last few days. It had been reported that President Trump had ordered attacks on Iran, following the shooting down of the US drone, by Iran. After this, there have been various announcements by the United States and its allies regarding deployments in the Gulf, and as per media claims, preparations for war also have been started. The seizure of an Iranian tanker by the United Kingdom in the Gulf of Gibraltar only endorses this claim.

At the same time, Iran, taking an aggressive stance, has started efforts to prove its influence in the Persian Gulf. A few days ago, Iran took over a British tanker in the Persian Gulf. Iranian ships and fighter jets are consistently hovering in the Persian Gulf and are reportedly flying dangerously close to the foreign Ships. Against this background, Iran conducted tests of the Shahab-3 missile in the last week.

This missile with a range of more than 1,000 kilometres, is in the Ballistic missile category and Iran claimed that this was a part of routine testing. But some media have indicated that this test was to issue a warning to Israel. Iran has added to the tension further, with this test, at a time when the tension with the United States and the United Kingdom is already at its peak.

Against this very background, the warning by the Russian Foreign Minister becomes significant. Although Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not mention the names of any countries, while talking about the rising tension with Iran, it is believed that he was pointing towards the United States. The Russian Foreign Minister also presented a stand that if the tension in the Persian Gulf has to be ended the countries from outside the Gulf should withdraw their military deployments from there.

A few days ago, a US analyst claimed that if the tension in the Persian Gulf increased, threatening the US interests, the United States would attack the Iranian military bases, instead of starting a full-blown war.