Russia has not seen evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow still had not seen evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, while the United States and Israel continued their attacks.

In a conversation with Brunei Darussalam's Foreign Minister II Erywan Yusof in Moscow, Foreign Minister Lavrov said "We still haven't seen any evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, which is the main reason, if not the only one, for the war," as Al Arabiya from Reuters (3/3).

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the consequences of the attack on Iran were felt throughout the region, and Arab countries bore the economic cost and suffered casualties.

US President Donald Trump is known to have expressed various reasons for going to war with Tehran.

On Monday, in his most extensive public comments to date, he said he had ordered the attack to thwart the United States' nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

On this occasion, Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Russia's call for an immediate cessation of hostilities by all parties:

"As a first step without conditions, we must make every effort to stop any action that results in civilian casualties."

The Foreign Minister pointed to reports of the bombing of a school in Iran. Iranian government media accused Israel and the US of carrying out an attack on a girls' elementary school in a southern Iranian city that Tehran said had killed more than 160 people.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US forces would not intentionally attack schools.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin will convey to Iran the concerns of Arab leaders about attacks on oil infrastructure in the region, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

President Putin, the Kremlin said, would do his best to ease tensions in the region.