MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. The Middle East conflict is already spreading beyond the boundaries of the Persian Gulf, Russian Presidential Aide, Chairman of the Maritime Board Nikolay Patrushev said on Wednesday.
"Indeed, this conflict is already extending beyond the Persian Gulf," Patrushev said in an interview with Russia’s Kommersant daily.
"One of the striking examples is a US submarine torpedo attack on an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean. This is the first such case in more than 40 years since the Falklands War," he continued.
Patrushev pointed to the fact that the Iranian vessel carried no weapons and was considered to be safe as it was returning from the Milan 2026 international multilateral naval exercise, where ships from 51 countries practiced joint participation in humanitarian missions.
On March 4, the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena sank off the coast of Sri Lanka after it had been attacked by a US Navy submarine. The IRIS Dena belonged to the Iranian Navy’s Southern Fleet. The ship recently took part in naval exercises in India.
Patrushev also said he was confident that the Middle East conflict would be soon resolved.
"Iran is a strategic partner of Russia, we are connected by long-term friendship and fruitful cooperation. I am confident that the conflict will be resolved, and the Iranian people will continue developing along their sovereign trajectory," he added.
The United States and Israel launched a 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.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.
The Assembly of Experts of the Islamic Republic of Iran later announced the election of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the assassinated ayatollah, as the country’s new Supreme Leader.