Moscow cautions that attack on Bandar Anzali threatens to pull Caspian states into the conflict
Russia issued a stark warning Friday that Israel's military strike on Iran's northern port of Bandar Anzali risks dragging the Caspian Sea region into an expanding military confrontation, raising the spectre of a conflict that could engulf multiple sovereign states far beyond the Middle Eastern theatre.
According to Xinhua, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned in an official statement that Wednesday's attack on the strategic Caspian port — a critical node for regional trade and logistics — has already dealt a blow to the economic interests of Russia and other countries that maintain transport links with Iran through the waterway.
The strike on Bandar Anzali marks a dramatic and dangerous escalation in the ongoing US-Israeli campaign against Iran, threatening to shatter the historically stable status of the Caspian Sea as a zone of peace. Zakharova, as cited by Xinhua, condemned what she called "reckless and irresponsible actions" and warned explicitly that Caspian littoral states — including Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan — now face the risk of being drawn into the military confrontation.
The Russian spokeswoman also voiced deep alarm over the widening scope of missile and air strikes targeting Iranian territory, arguing, as reported by Xinhua, that the "US-Israeli coalition" is actively fuelling the spread of a conflict it initiated in the Middle East. Her remarks reflect growing anxiety in Moscow that the war's geographic footprint is no longer contained and that critical infrastructure in Iran's north — directly bordering Russian-linked trade corridors — is now in the crosshairs.
In what amounts to an urgent diplomatic appeal, Zakharova called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and demanded renewed international efforts to prevent further escalation, both within the Middle East and in adjacent regions, Xinhua reported.
The attack on Bandar Anzali represents a profound shift in the conflict's trajectory. Long considered peripheral to the primary theatres of the war, the Caspian basin is home to major energy reserves and vital overland and maritime routes connecting Russia, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus to Iran. Any sustained military pressure on that arc threatens not only bilateral ties but the broader architecture of Eurasian connectivity.
Moscow's warning comes as international alarm mounts over the conflict's relentless expansion, with no ceasefire in sight and diplomatic channels under severe strain.