ASTANA, April 30. /TASS/. The US and Israeli aggression against Iran has negatively affected the Caspian Sea; the strike on the Anzali seaport infrastructure on the Caspian Sea was unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following talks with his Kazakh counterpart Yermek Kosherbayev.
"We are forced to note that the unprovoked armed aggression by the US and Israel against Iran has had a profoundly negative impact on the Caspian Sea and its coastline. The Caspian region must remain a zone of peace and cooperation," the top diplomat noted.
"And, of course, the strike by the anti-Iranian coalition on March 18 against the Anzali seaport infrastructure, which serves the trade and logistics interests of all five Caspian states, was also unacceptable and inadmissible," Lavrov added.
In this regard, the foreign minister noted that Russia and Kazakhstan emphasize the need to "resolve the crisis in the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East as a whole as soon as possible, through the achievement of political agreements among all parties involved."
On the evening of March 18, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the Israeli Air Force had struck Iranian Navy ships in the Caspian Sea. According to the report, the attack targeted an Iranian naval base in the city of Bandar Anzali, Iran’s largest port on the Caspian Sea. On March 19, the Israeli army’s press service confirmed the strike, noting that it was Israel’s first attack on Iranian naval targets in the Caspian Sea during the current operation against Iran.