On Thursday, Russia issued a warning to Iran and “all parties in the region” to practice restraint and caution amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment as the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group move from the Caribbean toward the Middle East.
“As Russia continues to develop ties with Iran, we call on our Iranian friends and all regional parties to exercise restraint and caution, and we urge them to prioritize political and diplomatic methods for resolving any problems,” Peskov stated Thursday.
“Right now, we are indeed seeing an unprecedented [gap preserved]. But we still expect that political and diplomatic means and negotiations will remain the primary approach in the search for a settlement,” he added.
The deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford will place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, negotiations between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program progressed toward what Iran described as the start of a potential framework—though sharp public divisions between the two sides underscored just how far apart they still are.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides had reached a “general agreement on a number of guiding principles” and agreed to begin drafting text for a possible agreement, with plans to exchange drafts and schedule a third round of talks.
Yet Washington has publicly insisted that any agreement must lead to the dismantling of [gap preserved]—including its enrichment capacity—along with limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Those demands go well beyond temporary pauses in enrichment or technical adjustments.
Digital’s Greg Wehner and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.