The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the current tension in the Middle East is a direct result of the decision by the United States and the European Union countries of Great Britain, France and Germany to block negotiations on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program. According to Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, who previously headed the Russian delegation at the negotiations, Western countries independently provoked the current situation, ignoring opportunities for a diplomatic solution to the issue.

According to a recent report published by The Washington Post, Iran is now closer to developing nuclear weapons than ever. The newspaper cites sources in the US administration, European diplomatic circles and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iranian authorities insist that their nuclear program is exclusively peaceful in nature, however, according to the publication's sources, the highly enriched uranium accumulated by Tehran may be sufficient to create several nuclear devices in a short time.