MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Iran and the United States have been able to break the circle of mutual accusations of aggression, and there will be no war between these countries in the near future, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s (upper house) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
"There will be no war between the United States and Iran in the foreseeable future, neither in the nuclear, nor in the conventional, nor in the hybrid warfare version. The adversaries managed to stop at the edge of the abyss, breaking the circle of mutual accusations of aggression. The most important thing is that the sides kind of reset claims, when each of the parties considered itself to be a winner, and each of them reserved the right to have the final say and announced its subsequent actions only as 'a forced and proportionate response' to the opponent’s actions," Kosachev noted.
In his view, "a new game — who will blink first — is beginning," which is better than new airstrikes and attacks on embassies anyway. "A separate part of this game is a nuclear deal, which Washington will try to breathe new life into on its terms as if nothing had happened. However, Tehran will certainly not renounce its terms under any circumstances now," Kosachev stressed.
Tensions around Iran flared up after the US launched a strike on Baghdad’s airport on January 3 killing General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force. On January 8, Iran retaliated by launching missile strikes on two military facilities in Iraq used by the United States. According to the Pentagon’s spokesperson, Al-Asad Air Base and the airport of Erbil were targeted.
US President Donald Trump addressed the nation at the White House on Wednesday saying that the US was ready to embrace peace with Iran and was hoping that Tehran would live in harmony with all states around the world. At the same time, Trump announced that new "punishing sanctions" would be imposed on Iran.