{"id":157973,"date":"2025-07-22T23:36:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T23:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/as-trump-considers-striking-iran-russia-warns-world-is-millimeters-away-from-nuclear-catastrophe-time-magazine\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T23:36:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T23:36:38","slug":"as-trump-considers-striking-iran-russia-warns-world-is-millimeters-away-from-nuclear-catastrophe-time-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/as-trump-considers-striking-iran-russia-warns-world-is-millimeters-away-from-nuclear-catastrophe-time-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"As Trump Considers Striking Iran, Russia Warns World Is \u2018Millimeters\u2019 Away From Nuclear Catastrophe – Time Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A U.S. attack on Iran, which President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing for the possibility of, would \u201cradically destabilize the entire situation,\u201d warned Russia\u2019s deputy foreign minister, as the war between Israel and Iran continues to escalate.
Sergei Ryabkov told<\/a> Interfax news agency on Wednesday that Russia has advised the U.S. against direct involvement in the conflict, which has already killed hundreds in Iran<\/a> and dozens in Israel<\/a> since it erupted less than a week ago<\/a>. 
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Ryabkov\u2019s comments come after Trump demanded Iran\u2019s \u201cunconditional surrender\u201d<\/a> as he openly pondered authorizing U.S. strikes on the nation\u2019s nuclear program<\/a>. Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Trump\u2019s demand<\/a> on Wednesday and warned that the U.S. would suffer \u201cirreparable damage\u201d if it joins the war.
Iran and the U.S. have since sent mixed messages about their openness to resolving tensions peacefully.
\u201cIran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance,\u201d Iran\u2019s United Nations Mission said in a statement<\/a> Wednesday after Trump suggested<\/a> that Iran had proposed a meeting at the White House. In a separate statement<\/a> hours later, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted that Iran \u201cremain[s] committed to diplomacy\u201d\u2014with the sole exception of its dealings with Israel, against which Iran has maintained its military actions<\/a> since last Friday\u2019s attack<\/a> are in \u201cself-defense.\u201d
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Trump offered a cryptic response Wednesday when asked whether he was planning to strike Iran: \u201cI may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I\u2019m going to do,\u201d he told<\/a> reporters. The Wall Street Journal<\/em> later reported<\/a> that the President approved attack plans but was holding off on the final order to see if Iran would abandon its nuclear program, hoping that the threat of U.S. intervention would force Iran\u2019s hand to surrender. \u201cI like to make the final decision one second before it\u2019s due,\u201d Trump told reporters. A source told ABC<\/a> on Wednesday that Trump has grown comfortable with the idea of striking Iran\u2019s underground Fordow nuclear facility, after Axios reported<\/a> that he wanted to make sure the plan would succeed in destroying Iran\u2019s nuclear program.
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Russia, a longtime ally of Iran and nuclear-armed adversary of the U.S., has sounded the alarm about the potential globally-devastating consequences of the conflict, especially should the U.S. military get more involved. \u201cNuclear facilities are being struck,\u201d foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Reuters<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cWhere is the [concern from the] entire world community? Where are all the environmentalists?\u201d
The world, Zakharova warned, is \u201cmillimeters\u201d away from catastrophe.
Earlier this week, Trump said<\/a> he was open to Russia mediating in the Middle East, but after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump told<\/a> reporters Wednesday that he turned down an offer.
\u201cI said, \u2018Do me a favor. Mediate your own. Let\u2019s mediate Russia first.\u2019 I said, \u2018Vladimir, let\u2019s mediate Russia first. You can worry about [this] later,\u2019\u201d Trump said.
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\u201cIt\u2019s a delicate issue,\u201d Putin told<\/a> senior news leaders on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Wednesday. \u201cIn my view, a solution could be found.\u201d
Putin said he has shared proposals for mediation with Iran, Israel, and the U.S.
\u201cWe are not imposing anything on anyone; we are simply talking about how we see a possible way out of the situation. But the decision, of course, is up to the political leadership of all these countries, primarily Iran and Israel,\u201d Putin said.
While a prominent Russian general claimed<\/a> after Israel\u2019s initial attack on Iran last Friday that \u201cWorld War III\u201d had begun and called for Moscow to prepare the mobilization of a million troops, experts say Russia is unlikely to intervene militarily.
Earlier this year, Russia and Iran deepened their ties with the signing of a strategic partnership<\/a>, which promised greater economic and military cooperation but crucially did not include a mutual defense clause.
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Middle East analyst Marianna Belenkaya told<\/a> news outlet DW that Russia, which is enmeshed in its own resource-draining war with Ukraine that Trump has pressured Putin to end, is \u201ctrying to restore or improve relations with Washington.\u201d Belenkaya suggested that Russia feels no urgent need to offer direct military support, \u201calthough some behind-the-scenes involvement can\u2019t be ruled out entirely.\u201d
Hanna Notte, a Russia and Middle East expert at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, posted<\/a> in a thread on X, that Russia is more likely to focus on trying to take up the role of mediator and calling for deescalation through international bodies.
Russia is navigating a \u201cfine balancing act: How to appear helpful to the U.S. while not freaking out Iran,\u201d Notte wrote. \u201cFor now, Russia will play its cards cautiously & observe how the situation plays out – understanding that it has [limited] leverage over the course of events And try to be involved in whatever comes next, while avoiding entanglement\/overextension.\u201d
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In fact, the turmoil could even prove helpful<\/a> for Russia, at least in the short term. Russian oil prices rose<\/a> 15% following the outbreak of the conflict. More critically, it distracts from the war in Ukraine, which has already been sidelined as Trump cancelled a June 17 meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to focus on the Middle East. 
\u201cUkraine will suffer the greatest military and political damage in this situation, apart from Iran itself,\u201d said<\/a> Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based think tank Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, according to the Guardian<\/em>. \u201cA new war in the Middle East will not only distract the world\u2019s attention from the [war in Ukraine] but will also, apparently, contribute to the final reorientation of the U.S. towards providing military assistance to Israel.\u201d
Still, Russia has a lot to lose. Destabilization in the region could spill over into the South Caucasus where Russia exerts its influence, Notte said on X. And an Iranian regime collapse risks an already diplomatically isolated Russia losing one of its few remaining allies.
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\u201cIf this regime falls, I think it will be much harder for Russia to retain its assets and influence in the country,\u201d Notte told the Guardian<\/em>. Russia has invested billions of dollars into gas, energy and infrastructure projects in Iran over the past two years.
Russia, along with China and Pakistan, requested that the U.N. Security Council holds a second emergency meeting on the conflict, which has been scheduled<\/a> for Friday. 
European diplomats will also hold nuclear talks with Iranian officials in Geneva on Friday, a European official told<\/a> the Associated Press. The meeting will include diplomats from Germany, France, and the U.K., but currently is not set to include the U.S.
Trump initially disclaimed involvement<\/a> in Israel\u2019s attacks on Iran but has since shifted towards an increasingly threatening stance. That has included repositioning<\/a> U.S. forces, warships, and aircraft to Middle East bases for \u201cdefensive<\/a>\u201d purposes earlier this week and urging<\/a> \u201ceveryone\u201d in Tehran\u2014a city of 9.5 million\u2014to immediately evacuate. When asked by reporters about his warning, Trump said<\/a>, \u201cI just want people to be safe.\u201d
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Among the steps Trump could take is a strike to kill Khamenei, which he suggested the U.S. is capable of doing in a Tuesday Truth Social post<\/a>\u2014a plan that Israel reportedly<\/a> initially proposed but Trump previously rejected.
Of the idea, Putin said on Wednesday, \u201cI don\u2019t even want to discuss such a possibility.\u201d
Another possible route the U.S. could take is striking Iran\u2019s deep-underground uranium-enrichment facility at Fordow, which would require powerful bunker-buster bombs that only the U.S. has in its arsenal. 
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter in a Wednesday interview<\/a> with CNN expressed confidence in Israel\u2019s ability to destroy Fordow but did not go into detail about whether that would entail U.S. support.
\u201cIt might require multiple strikes, it might require something else or it might require one of our surprises,\u201d Leiter said. \u201cWe have a few tricks up our sleeves.\u201d
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump on Wednesday, saying in a national address<\/a> that the two leaders \u201cspeak constantly.\u201d
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Israel, which has placed pressure<\/a> on the U.S. to join the war, has also upped its objectives. Leiter said that Israel must eliminate Iran\u2019s ability to make ballistic missiles\u2014in addition to its initial stated aim of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. \u201cThey cannot have the weapons that can destroy Israel, which they claim and which they want to do every day,\u201d Leiter said.
Iran has maintained, which Russia has publicly supported<\/a>, that it has the right to enrich its uranium in line with its civilian nuclear program under the United Nations\u2019 Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation. U.S. intelligence earlier this year concluded<\/a> that, while Iran has enriched uranium to unprecedented levels, the country was not believed to be developing nuclear weapons, though Trump has since dismissed those reports, saying<\/a> \u201cI think they were very close to having them.\u201d
Analysts<\/a> have warned<\/a> that Israel\u2019s attacks may actually incentivize Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, rather than deterring it. 
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Aragchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said in his statement<\/a> Wednesday that \u201cwe have never sought and will never seek nuclear weapons. If otherwise, what better pretext could we possibly need for developing those inhuman weapons than the current aggression by the region\u2019s only nuclear-armed regime?\u201d
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, said it has lost track of Iran\u2019s enriched uranium stockpile, Bloomberg reported<\/a> on Wednesday. Because of ongoing Israeli attacks, inspectors are unable to verify the location of the stockpile, which should be secured at an underground facility at Isfahan but that Tehran had warned the IAEA could be moved in the event of an Israeli attack.
In a statement<\/a> after Israel\u2019s attack last Friday, Russia\u2019s foreign ministry implied that Israel\u2019s strikes were a \u201ccynical\u201d attempt to sabotage diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran. 
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The U.S. was in the midst of protracted talks<\/a> with Iran centered around the latter\u2019s nuclear program, though discussions had stalled somewhat as Trump Administration officials increased their demands on Iran toward zero nuclear enrichment. A sixth round of talks was meant to take place over the past weekend but was cancelled after Israel\u2019s surprise attack.
Seemingly implicating the U.S. too, Russia\u2019s foreign ministry said in a Tuesday statement<\/a> that \u201cthe confrontational approach and destructive actions of the Israeli leadership receive understanding and support solely from those states which are de facto accomplices, motivated by opportunistic interests.\u201d
\u201cIsrael\u2019s continued, intensive attacks,\u201d the Tuesday statement said, \u201cdrive the world closer to a nuclear catastrophe.\u201d
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