俄罗斯最高外交官警告美国不要因为中东地区日益动荡而指责伊朗，称华盛顿是那里持续危机的幕后黑手，并有引发冲突的风险。
在周三接受莫斯科报纸采访时我爱争论俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖拉夫罗夫(Sergey Lavrov)为目前与伊朗和以色列的关系辩护，称这种关系对俄罗斯具有“内在价值”，尽管两大宿敌之间的不和日益恶化。随着美国加紧对伊朗的“最大压力”运动，希望在国际上孤立伊朗，拉夫罗夫谴责这一战略破坏稳定，双方交换了威胁。
拉夫罗夫说:“我们今天目睹的该地区紧张局势升级，是华盛顿及其一些盟友加大反伊朗政策赌注的直接结果。”。
“美国正在炫耀其实力，试图败坏德黑兰的名声，并将所有的罪过都归咎于伊朗伊斯兰共和国，”他补充道。“这造成了一个危险的局面:一场比赛就能引发一场火灾。他可能造成灾难性后果的责任将由美国承担。”
2月23日，在阿曼海湾的韦拉亚特-97演习中，一艘伊朗海军军舰发射了一枚反舰巡航导弹。美国指责伊朗在同一个战略水域袭击油轮，但伊朗一再否认这一点。伊朗伊斯兰共和国军队
中国、欧盟、法国、德国和英国与俄罗斯一道，签署了美国和伊朗支持的2015年核协议，该协议同意遏制德黑兰的核活动，以换取制裁减免。去年，唐纳德·特朗普总统单方面放弃了该协议，指责德黑兰利用解冻的资金资助激进组织和发展弹道导弹，让协议的其他签署方来挽救该协议。
自那以后，美国通过威胁包括盟国在内的国家实施制裁，越来越多地限制与伊朗的国际贸易。五角大楼还加强了其在中东的军事存在，白宫称，与德黑兰的联系构成了更大的威胁，美国指控德黑兰袭击阿曼湾的油轮。
上个月，精英革命卫队在伊朗领空内或附近击落了一架美国海军间谍无人驾驶飞机，此举导致特朗普下令实施直到最后一刻才暂停的打击。面对美国的压力，欧洲正努力与德黑兰实现贸易关系正常化，伊朗也已开始在协议中概述的限额以上浓缩铀。
欧盟决定不针对伊朗的行动启动争端解决机制，称其为“可逆转的”，而不是不遵守的“重大”例子。对此，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡将其比喻为20世纪30年代欧洲的绥靖政策“向着纳粹德国。
拉夫罗夫在周三的采访中否认了这一比较，称“把20世纪30年代欧洲发生的事情与当前中东的事态发展联系起来是不合适的。”他回忆了前英国首相尼维利·张伯伦和法国总理爱德华·达拉第是如何“试图安抚希特勒，以便指挥德国军队对抗苏联”
拉夫罗夫争辩道:“我们今天没有看到这种情况。”。“伊朗通过与所有感兴趣的国家，包括海湾阿拉伯国家的对话，定期向我们重申其对区域稳定的兴趣。除此之外，德黑兰一直强调，它不打算采取任何侵略行动。”
伊朗外交部长穆罕默德贾瓦德扎里夫7月17日在纽约联合国总部出席可持续发展高级别政治论坛时发表讲话。德黑兰最高外交官指责美国试图迫使各国遵守对伊朗的单方面制裁，是一个“恶霸”。KENA BETANCUR/法新社/盖蒂图片社
伊朗外交部长穆罕默德·贾瓦德·扎里夫(Mohammad Javad Zarif)周二告诉美国全国广播公司新闻，与美国的外交大门也“敞开”，但只有特朗普政府解除制裁，核谈判才能进行。他还提到美国对沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国等阿拉伯半岛国家的广泛军事支持，认为伊朗需要维持其导弹计划以应对这些威胁。
当天晚些时候，美国国务卿麦克·庞贝暗示，德黑兰驻联合国代表团“首次准备就其导弹计划进行谈判”驳回这一解释扎里夫的“假设”言论，并强调“伊朗的导弹是绝对的，在任何情况下都不能与任何人或任何国家谈判，期间。”
核协议的其他签署国呼吁美国和伊朗双方缓和波斯湾的严重局势，但英国扣押了一艘被控试图通过直布罗陀向叙利亚运输石油的伊朗超级油轮，这只会加深危机。此举显然违反了欧盟对叙利亚政府的制裁，尽管伊朗官员辩称，他们不受此类限制，并否认这艘船是开往其阿拉伯盟友的——尽管他们威胁要报复。
伊朗还否认了最近发生的一起据称革命卫队船只试图接近一艘英国油轮却被一艘英国军舰赶走的事件。据报道，在本周早些时候的另一起事件中，美国怀疑伊朗是一艘悬挂阿联酋国旗的油轮失踪的幕后黑手，但外交部发言人阿巴斯·穆萨维表示，伊朗伊斯兰共和国仅仅提供他们的帮助船抛锚后。
RUSSIA TELLS U.S. TO STOP BLAMING IRAN FOR EVERYTHING: 'A SINGLE MATCH CAN START A FIRE'
Russia's top diplomat warned the United States to stop blaming Iran for the increasing unrest in the Middle East, arguing that Washington was behind the ongoing crisis there and risked sparking a conflict.
In an interview Wednesday with Moscow-based newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended ongoing ties with both Iran and Israel as having "intrinsic value" for his country, despite the worsening feud between the archfoes. The two have exchanged threats as the U.S. stepped up its "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran in hopes of isolating it internationally, a strategy that Lavrov condemned as destabilizing.
"The escalating tension in the region we are witnessing today is the direct result of Washington and some of its allies raising the stakes in their anti-Iranian policy," Lavrov said.
"The U.S. is flexing its muscles by seeking to discredit Tehran and blame all the sins on the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added. "This creates a dangerous situation: a single match can start a fire. The responsibility for he possible catastrophic consequences will rest with the United States."
An Iranian navy warship fires an anti-ship cruise missile during the Velayat-97 drills in the Gulf of Oman, February 23. The U.S. has accused Iran of attacking oil tankers in the same strategic stretch of water, something the Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied.ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN ARMY
Russia was joined by China, the European Union, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in signing a 2015 nuclear deal championed by the U.S. and Iran, which agreed to curb Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Last year, President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement, accusing Tehran of using unfrozen funds to finance militant groups and develop ballistic missiles, leaving the accord's other signatories to salvage it.
Since then, the U.S. has increasingly restricted international trade with Iran by threatening countries, including allies, with sanctions. The Pentagon has also bolstered its military presence in the Middle East amid what the White House has claimed was a heightened threat posed by forces link to Tehran, which the U.S. has accused of attacking oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
Last month, the elite Revolutionary Guards downed a U.S. Navy spy drone within or near Iranian airspace, a move that led Trump to order strikes that were suspended only at the last minute. Iran has also begun enriching uranium above limits outlined in the deal as Europe struggled to normalize trade ties with Tehran in the face of U.S. pressure.
The EU decided against triggering a dispute resolution mechanism in response to Iran's actions, calling them "reversible" and not a "significant" example of non-compliance. Reacting to this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew comparisons to "the European appeasement of the 1930s" toward Nazi Germany.
Lavrov dismissed this comparison during Wednesday's interview, saying "it is not appropriate to project what happened in Europe in the 1930s on the current developments in the Middle East." He recalled how former U.K. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier "sought to appease Hitler in order to direct the German military might against the USSR."
"We are not seeing anything of this kind today," Lavrov argued. "Iran regularly reaffirms to us its interest in regional stability through dialogue with all the interested countries, including the Gulf Arab states. In addition to this, Tehran has always stressed that it did not intend to undertake any aggressive action."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks as he attends a high level political forum on sustainable development on July 17 at the U.N. Headquarters in New York. Tehran's top diplomat accused the U.S. of being a "bully" in its attempts to force countries to abide by unilateral sanctions on Iran.KENA BETANCUR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told NBC News on Tuesday that the door for diplomacy with the U.S. too "was open" but that nuclear negotiations could only take place once the Trump administration removed its sanctions. He also noted the extensive U.S. military support to Arabian Peninsula countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, arguing that Iran would need to maintain its missile program in response to such threats.
While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later that day suggested that "for the first time, the Iranians are ready to negotiate on their missile program," Tehran's mission to the United Nations dismissed this interpretation of Zarif's "hypothetical" remarks and emphasized that "Iran's missiles are absolutely and under no condition negotiable with anyone or any country, period."
The nuclear deal's other signatories have called on the U.S. and Iran to both de-escalate the grave situation in the Persian Gulf, but the U.K.'s seizure of an Iranian supertanker accused of attempting to transport oil to Syria via Gibraltar has only deepened the crisis. The move would have been an apparent violation of EU sanctions against the Syrian government, though Iranian officials have argued they were not subject to such restrictions and denied the ship was destined for their Arab ally anyway—though they have threatened retaliation.
Iran has also denied a recent alleged incident in which Revolutionary Guards vessels were said to have attempted to approach a U.K. oil tanker only to be chased off by a U.K. warship. In a separate incident earlier this week, the U.S. reportedly suspected Iran to be behind the disappearance of a UAE-based, Panamanian-flagged oil tanker, but Foreign Minister Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said the Islamic Republic had merely offered their assistance after the vessel broke down.
