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What Russia, China said on US strikes on Iran nuclear sites: 'Dangerous escalation...'
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that he'll travel to Moscow later in the day to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia and China on Sunday joined a host of countries that condemned the United States' strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. The precision strikes using stealth bombers and mega bunker-busting bombs, aimed at crippling Tehran's alleged attempts at becoming a nuclear power, have risked an escalation in the war-ravaged Middle East.
Russia's foreign ministry "strongly condemned" the US attack on Iran. It called Washington's move "irresponsible" and a "gross violation of international laws".
"It is already clear that a dangerous escalation has begun, fraught with further undermining of regional and global security," the Russian foreign ministry added.
How China reacted to US attack on Iran
China strongly condemned the US attack on Iran and on "nuclear facilities supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency".
The country's foreign ministry said in a statement on its website that the move seriously violates the United Nations Charter and worsens tensions in the Middle East.
Beijing urged parties to the conflict, especially Israel, to cease attacks as soon as possible and begin dialogue and negotiations.
Iran vows reprisals
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that he'll travel to Moscow later in the day to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We enjoy a strategic partnership and we always consult with each other and coordinate our positions,” he said.
He also said the US crossed a major red line by attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.
"They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran's) nuclear facilities," he said.
Donald Trump today said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days after Israel bombed Iran in a surprise move.
"Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security," he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself "by all means necessary against... US military aggression".
After the strikes, Trump said Iran "must now agree to end this war".
But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was "irrelevant".
"The world must not forget that it was the United States which -- in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome -- betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime's launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation," he said.
"So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force" he added.
With inputs from Reuters, AFP, AP
