Moscow [Russia], June 23 (ANI): Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is making efforts to assist the Iranian people. His remarks came during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

According to a report by Russian news agency TASS, President Putin stated, 'We have long-standing, good, reliable relations with Iran. For our part, we are making efforts to provide assistance to the Iranian people.'

Earlier, echoing this position, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, sharply criticised the United States for its recent military strikes on Iran, accusing Washington of opening a 'Pandora's box' with potentially catastrophic consequences for global security. The remarks underscore Moscow's deepening concern over rising tensions in the region and its vocal opposition to Western military actions targeting its allies.

His remarks came during an emergency special session of the Security Council at UN Headquarters in New York on Sunday (local time).

Speaking under the agenda item 'threats to international peace and security', Nebenzia condemned the US-led strikes targeting Iran's nuclear sites as 'irresponsible, dangerous, and provocative,' amid escalating tensions between the Islamic Republic and Israel.

'Washington reasserted that to further the interests of its Israeli ally, it's prepared not only to turn a blind eye to the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian women, children and older persons but also to gamble with the safety and well-being of humanity as a whole. Through their actions, the US has opened a Pandora's box; no one knows what new catastrophes and suffering it will bring,' he noted.

The Russian envoy reiterated Moscow's repeated offers to mediate a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, which he said were ignored by the US.

He warned that the US leadership holds full responsibility for the targeted strikes on Iran and the consequences they may unleash.

'We insisted insistently and offered our US colleagues our mediation services so as to find a peaceful, mutually agreeable solution surrounding the Iranian nuclear program, yet our US colleagues are clearly not interested in diplomacy,' Nebenzia said.

'Today responsibility for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the US leadership unless we stop the escalation, the Middle East will find itself on the verge of a large-scale conflict with unpredictable consequences for the entire international security system, plus the entire world might end up on the verge of a nuclear disaster,' he added.

Nebenzia also called for an immediate halt to aggressive actions by both Israel and the US, urging all sides to exercise restraint and return to diplomacy.

'We call for an immediate cessation of aggressive actions by Israel and the US, restraint on the part of all parties and a return into the fold of international diplomacy and the negotiations process,' he stated.

The remarks come amid the escalating conflict in the region following the US-led Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted three key nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. (ANI)