MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. The strikes on Iran were planned under the guise of talks with Tehran, a tactic that the West has already tried with the Minsk agreements, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"There was no talk of Iran withdrawing from the negotiations or taking any drastic steps, so these strikes were planned, as many people have said today, both here and abroad, under the guise of negotiations allegedly being conducted by those who carried out the strikes," she said on the Soloviev Live TV channel. "In other words, we are seeing this tactic again. It has already been tested and used for many years when Westerners talked about the Minsk agreements," the diplomat pointed out.
The spokeswoman recalled that, with regards to the Minsk agreements, the West had repeatedly said that "consultations are needed on how they are implemented, that Russia needs to comply with them even more, that negotiations are needed." "And then, they suddenly admitted that they had deceived everyone and were actually leading the way to the militarization of the Kiev regime," Zakharova recalled.
About strikes on Iran
The US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on Saturday. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, have been hit. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite units of the Iranian Armed Forces) announced a large-scale retaliatory operation. There were reports of missiles and drones being launched from Iran, and air-raid alert sirens sounded in the Tel Aviv area. According to the Mehr news agency, US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also targeted. Regional countries are closing their airspace, and airlines are suspending flights.