Russian Kremlin Ready To Mediate Iran-Israel Conflict If Necessary

Dmitry Peskov. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - Russia acted as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Iran, the Kremlin said on Monday, adding that the proposal to accept Tehran uranium still applies.

Israel launched airstrikes in the "Raising Lion" operation targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday morning. The attack was retaliated by Iran, which launched retaliation against a number of targets in Israel.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was ready to mediate if needed. However, he noted that the root cause of the conflict needed to be addressed and eliminated, saying military attacks escalated the entire crisis to a more serious level.

"Russia is still ready to do everything necessary to eliminate the root causes of this crisis," Peskov said.

"But the situation is getting more than serious, and, of course, it doesn't affect the situation getting better," he said.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the attack, saying Iran had enough enriched uranium to make several bombs and a few days, so it needed to act against "an imminent threat", as quoted by The Times of Israel.

Tehran itself says it has the right to peaceful nuclear power, but its rapidly growing uranium enrichment program has raised concerns in the West and across the Gulf, the country wants to develop nuclear weapons.

Before Israel launched an attack on Iran, Russia last week said it was ready to accommodate enriched uranium from Iran to be converted into civilian reactor fuel as a potential way to defuse the crisis.

"This proposal is still being considered, it is still relevant. However, of course, with the breaking of hostilities, the situation becomes very complicated," Peskov said.

Separately, United States President Donald Trump expressed his optimism on Sunday that peace (Israel-Iran) would soon come and cited the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could help.