Russia strongly warns Israel: don't consider attacking Iran's nuclear facilities; don't even think about it

Israeli security sources told ABC News (ABC News) and CNN (CNN) that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has approved a series of targets for carrying out retaliatory strikes against Iran.

However, no timeline has been given yet, except that the attack is expected to be carried out before the US election day on November 5. “US officials expect Israel to retaliate against this month's attack on Iran by November 5,” a source told CNN. This schedule will push the growing turmoil in the Middle East to the public just days before the US presidential election.

There are reports that as Israel's attack on Iran may come at any time, Russia's new warning is the toughest.

On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov conveyed Russia's position that Israel must never attack Iran's nuclear energy base or infrastructure. He was quoted by TASS as saying that any “hypothetical” Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be “disastrous.”

Ryabkov said, “We have repeatedly warned and will continue to warn (Israel) that even hypothetically considering the possibility of attacking (Iran) nuclear facilities and nuclear infrastructure would be a disastrous development and a complete denial of existing assumptions in the field of ensuring nuclear safety.”

According to reports, Netanyahu has told the White House that Israel will promise to only attack Iran's military bases. However, reports from the Israeli side continue to suggest that all options are still on the table.

Recently, the relationship between Russia and Iran in the economic and military fields has been deepening. The West even accuses Tehran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine; Iranian and Russian officials have denied this.

But the US and EU are still using this accusation to impose new sanctions on Iran and senior defense officials. Furthermore, the sanctions also “target companies and individuals accused of being involved in arms transfers to Russia, including Iran Air, Iran Air, as well as Saha Airlines and Mahan Airlines.”

Analysts believe that when Israel is considering retaliation against Iran, Iran's agents in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen may also become targets for Israel.

In the past two and a half weeks, militias linked to Iran in Iraq have launched about 40 attacks against Israel, using missiles, drones, or rockets. This is the latest escalation of a largely clandestine proxy war in the Middle East. According to data compiled by the Washington Institute, a think tank headquartered in the US, the pace of such attacks accelerated dramatically after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Hassan Nasrallah) in an air strike on September 27.

Michael Knights (Michael Knights), an analyst at the Washington Institute who is concerned about militia activity in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, said, “The number of missiles and drones launched from Iraq to Israel has peaked. They have reached a higher stage to show their support for Hezbollah.”

The launch of missiles from Iraq highlights Iran's strategy of using its “axis of resistance” members to support each other against Israel, as well as competition among factions. Knights said, “The Iraqi militias are not as capable as Hezbollah, nor as crazy as the Houthis, so I'm a little worried that they will be compared to others in the Axis.”