俄罗斯警告称，波斯湾日益紧张的局势可能导致全面对抗，因为美国和伊朗就击落对方无人驾驶飞机和其他动乱事件的竞争性主张展开争论。
唐纳德·特朗普总统周四首次披露那黄蜂-级两栖攻击舰美国海军鲍克瑟号“对一架伊朗无人驾驶飞机采取了防御行动，这架飞机已经接近了一个非常近的距离，大约1000码，无视多次撤退的呼吁，威胁到船只和船员的安全。”总统说“无人驾驶飞机立即被摧毁”，并敦促国际社会在波斯湾支持伊朗。
俄罗斯与中国、欧盟、法国、德国和英国一道，继续支持特朗普政府去年放弃的2015年与伊朗的核协议，并一再呼吁双方缓和局势，但尤其指责美国因为该地区的形势越来越严峻。周五，俄罗斯国防部长谢尔盖·里亚布科夫表示，莫斯科“注意到”特朗普最近的言论。
“波斯湾地区各国的人力和物资高度集中，任何事件都有可能发生。最重要的是防止局势升级，”据国营的俄罗斯塔斯社报道，里亚布科夫说。“我们可以再次看到，局势不仅仅是爆炸性的。它充满了冲突的爆发。”
伊朗革命卫队7月9日发布的一段录像中的一幅静物据称显示，他们的一架无人驾驶飞机正在监视美国海军黄蜂级两栖攻击舰“鲍克瑟号”的行动，唐纳德·特朗普总统声称前一天在霍尔木兹海峡击落了一架伊朗无人驾驶飞机。伊斯兰革命卫队
伊朗否认失去无人机，德黑兰驻联合国特使周五甚至开玩笑说，美国可能已经取出了自己的设备。革命卫队随后在周五公布了录像，声称显示无人驾驶航空系统正在运行，并且在监视飞机时没有受到伤害美国海军鲍克瑟号和该地区的其他五艘美国军舰。
然而，特朗普周五早些时候曾表示，“毫无疑问”美国击落了伊朗无人驾驶飞机，他的国家安全顾问约翰博尔顿(John Bolton)也表示“毫无疑问”。特朗普还告诉记者，他不担心发生冲突的可能性，因为美国拥有“最强大”和“最致命”的船只
特朗普说:“为了他们，我们希望他们不要做傻事。”。“如果他们这样做了，他们将付出前所未有的代价。”
不到一个月前，革命卫队击落了一架同样在波斯湾地区飞行的美国海军最先进的高空无人驾驶飞机。五角大楼辩称，该装置仍在国际空域，而伊朗声称该装置进入了其主权领土后来得到了俄罗斯自己的国家安全首脑尼古拉·帕特鲁舍夫。
俄罗斯是不仅仅是呼吁冷静在这个地区。伊朗外长扎里夫提出批准一项核协议议定书，允许提前进行核检查，以换取美国解除制裁。中国外交部发言人鲁抗呼吁美国“积极回应，放弃对伊朗施加极端压力的错误做法，避免阻碍全面协议的执行，尊重各方的合法权益，为在相互尊重和平等对话的基础上解决相互关切创造条件。”
在这幅静物画中，可以看到悬挂英国国旗的斯坦纳·皮里莫(Stena Impero)。伊朗7月19日表示，它扣押了这艘油轮，原因不明。汤米·基亚/斯坦纳
就在革命卫队公布监控录像几小时后，他们宣布还缴获了悬挂英国国旗的船只斯特诺·埃米利奥由于霍尔木兹海峡不明的“不遵守法律法规”而导致的油轮。据说这艘船已经被运到岸上，为“法律程序和必要的检查”做准备。
伊朗一再威胁对英国在直布罗陀扣押伊朗超级油轮进行报复格蕾丝1该公司被指控试图向叙利亚运输石油，这显然违反了欧盟的制裁。美国此前指责革命卫队试图在本月初夺取英国遗产，但却被英国驱逐出境公爵护卫舰等级英国皇家海军蒙特罗斯号。
伊朗否认与该事件有任何牵连，也否认与附近的阿曼湾发生的针对不同国家商船的两系列袭击事件有任何牵连。然而，革命卫队确实扣留了另一艘较小的阿联酋船只，该船只被控在不到一周前走私石油。媒体报道称，伊朗军队可能在周五扣押了第二艘船只，一艘悬挂利比里亚国旗的船只，归英国所有
RUSSIA WARNS 'CONFLICT' COULD BREAK OUT ANY TIME AS U.S. AND IRAN FIGHT OVER DRONES
Russia has warned that mounting tensions in the Persian Gulf could lead to an all-out confrontation as the United States and Iran argue over competing claims regarding the downing of one another's drones and other instances of unrest.
President Donald Trump first revealed Thursday that Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer "took defensive action against an Iranian drone which had closed into a very near distance, approximately 1000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down and was threatening the safety of the ship and the ship's crew." The president said that "the drone was immediately destroyed" and urged international support against Iran in the Persian Gulf.
Russia, which joined China, the European Union, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in continuing to support a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran abandoned by last year by the Trump administration, has repeatedly called on both sides to de-escalate, but has especially blamed the U.S. for an increasingly dire situation in the region. On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow had "taken note of" Trump's recent remarks.
"The concentration of manpower and materiel belonging to various countries in the Persian Gulf region is so high that any incidents are possible. The most important thing is to prevent the escalation scenario," Ryabkov said, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. "We can see once again that the situation is not just explosive. It is fraught with an outbreak of conflict."
A still from footage released July 9 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards is purported to show one of their drones monitoring the movements of the U.S. Navy's Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, which President Donald Trump claimed shot down an Iranian drone the previous day in the Strait of Hormuz.ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS
Iran has denied losing the drone and Tehran's envoy to the United Nations even joked Friday that the U.S. may have taken out its own device. The Revolutionary Guards then published footage Friday purporting to show the unmanned aerial system in action and unharmed as it surveilled the USS Boxer and five other U.S. warships in the region.
Trump had said earlier Friday, however, that there was "no doubt" that the U.S. knocked out the Iranian drone and his national security adviser John Bolton also said there was "no question" about it. Trump also told reporters that he was not concerned about the possibility of a clash because the U.S. has the "greatest" and "most deadly ships."
"We hope for their sake they don't do anything foolish," Trump said. "If they do, they will pay a price like nobody's ever paid a price."
The news came less than a month after the Revolutionary Guards shot down a state-of-the-art, high-flying U.S. Navy drone also flying in the Persian Gulf region. The Pentagon argued the device remained in international airspace, while Iran claimed the device entered its sovereign territory, a narrative later backed by Russia's own national security chief, Nikolai Patrushev.
Russia was not alone in calling for calm in the region. After Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered to ratify a nuclear deal protocol allowing nuclear inspections ahead of schedule in exchange for a lifting of U.S. sanctions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang called on Washington to "respond positively, abandon the wrong practices of putting extreme pressure on Iran, avoid obstructing the implementation of comprehensive agreements, respect the legitimate rights and interests of all parties, and create conditions for resolving mutual concerns on the basis of mutual respect and equal dialogue."
The U.K.-flagged Stena Impero is seen in this still from a promotional video. Iran said on July 19 it seized the oil tanker for an unspecified violation of the law.
