Russia and China slam US for Middle East strikes
Al Jazeera
They accuse Washington of raising the risk of escalation in service of Biden’s election hopes.
Russia and China have slammed the United States for its recent air strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria.
The two countries accused Washington of raising the risk of regional escalation at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council late on Monday. Moscow also asserted that the US decision to launch the attacks was linked to the upcoming presidential election in November.
Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine has been the topic of bitter debate at the UNSC over the past two years, had requested the council meeting after the US launched dozens of strikes against Iran-aligned targets in Iraq and Syria. The attacks followed a drone strike on a US base in Jordan that killed three soldiers.
Moscow’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia alleged that the strikes were a US attempt to “flex its muscles”. It was also fuelled, he claimed at the UNSC, by a desire to influence its domestic political landscape and shore up the “disastrous” image of President Joe Biden’s administration.
The attacks, which killed several dozen people, including civilians, demonstrate Washington’s complete disregard for international law, Nebenzia added. He also accused the US of seeking to draw Middle Eastern powers, including Iran, into a regional conflict.
Senior Iranian officials deny that Iran held talks with the US
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“If we trust him, we lose.”