MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to contribute to a detente in the Middle East, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Commenting on the Russian leader’s international phone calls over the situation in Iran, he said: "Putin has undoubtedly been making and will continue to make every effort to contribute to at least a minor detente. In this regard, conversations with yesterday’s interlocutors were all about Putin promising to convey our serious concern over the strikes on their infrastructure to the Iranian authorities within the framework of our dialogue with them."

The day before, Putin spoke over the phone with his colleagues from Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. At the same time, US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power. As a result of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.