The US is seeking to prevent normalization between Tehran and Arab states and erode support for Palestine, Russias top diplomat said

The US and Israel launched the war against Iran in order to prevent the normalization of Tehran's relations with the Gulf states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told RT India. The campaign was intended to push Arab countries closer to Israel and pressure them into abandoning support for Palestine, he added.

Iran responded to the US-Israeli airstrikes launched on February 28 by targeting American bases in the Gulf states, along with energy and port infrastructure linked to US operations. In aninterviewpublished on Wednesday, Lavrov condemned the attack on Iran as "unprovoked" and described Tehran's response as an act of self-defense.

"I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states," Lavrov said. "Now, everything is being done to ensure that reconciliation never happens."

Lavrov argued that the US was pressuring Arab states in an attempt to "force them to betray the Palestinian cause" in favor of closer ties with Israel. He also accused Washington of employing "neocolonial" tactics to "strong-arm everyone into buying expensive US oil and liquefied natural gas rather than cheap Russian oil."

"They seek to rule the world through controlling global energy supplies," Lavrov added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he had secretly traveled to the UAE at the height of the war and described the trip as "a historic breakthrough." The Emirati government, however, denied that such a visit had taken place.

Several media outlets reported this week that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had carried out covert airstrikes inside Iran during the conflict. While the UAE denied taking military action, Riyadh neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Iranian officials have accused Gulf states of facilitating attacks on Iranian territory and called on the US to withdraw its troops from the region.

(RT.com)