VIENTIANE /Laos/, October 11. /TASS/. If Israel follows through on its threats to attack Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities, it would be a major provocation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.
"Of course, if plans or threats to attack the peaceful nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran were to be carried out, it would constitute a very serious provocation," the top diplomat said when asked about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran.
Lavrov also commented on statements that Iran's parliament is allegedly seriously considering the possibility of withdrawing the country from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in anticipation of a possible Israeli retaliatory missile strike. According to the minister, Russia is guided by the assessments of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has not reported any sign that Iran is planning to use its nuclear program for military purposes. "We prefer to be guided by facts, as I have already said. In almost all countries, there are politicians, parliamentarians who express positions that do not reflect the practical strategy and practical line of their governments. We have seen many examples of this," he added.
"As for the real state of affairs, the IAEA, which monitors Iran's nuclear program, monitors it quite closely, sees no signs that Iran has begun to shift this nuclear program in a military direction. And the IAEA regularly makes these kinds of reports to the Board of Governors. We rely on these professional assessments," Lavrov concluded.
On the evening of October 1, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite unit of Iran’s armed forces) launched a massive ballistic and hypersonic missile attack against Israel in retaliation for the deaths of top leaders of the Hamas, Hezbollah and IRGC groups. Tehran said that 90% of the missiles successfully hit their designated targets. Israel, in turn, said that Iran had fired some 180 missiles into the country, most of which were intercepted.
The Israeli Chief of the General Staff vowed to "choose the right time" to surprise Iran with an attack, while Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Hebrew warned that attacks on Israel will be ramped up.