Russia Says It’s Extremely Concerned by Rise in Middle East Tensions, Urges Restraint 

A boy rides a donkey near one of the batteries of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system at a village not recognized by Israeli authorities in the southern Negev desert on April 14, 2024. (AFP)
A boy rides a donkey near one of the batteries of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system at a village not recognized by Israeli authorities in the southern Negev desert on April 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Russia Says It’s Extremely Concerned by Rise in Middle East Tensions, Urges Restraint 

A boy rides a donkey near one of the batteries of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system at a village not recognized by Israeli authorities in the southern Negev desert on April 14, 2024. (AFP)
A boy rides a donkey near one of the batteries of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system at a village not recognized by Israeli authorities in the southern Negev desert on April 14, 2024. (AFP)

Russia said on Monday it was very worried by the rise in tensions in the Middle East following Iran's mass drone and missile attack on Israel at the weekend.

"We are extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint."

"Further escalation is in no one's interests. Therefore, of course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political and diplomatic methods," Peskov said.

Iran launched the attack in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed top Revolutionary Guards commanders and followed months of clashes between Israel and Iran's regional allies, triggered by the war in Gaza.

Russia has refrained from criticizing its ally Iran in public over the strikes.

Moscow on Sunday noted that Tehran had said the attack was made within the right to self-defense after Israel's strike on the Iranian embassy compound, which Moscow condemned.

President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian by telephone on Sunday.



Car Bombing Kills 13 Pakistani Soldiers Near Afghan Border

A Pakistani policeman keeps watch on a roadside during the month of Muharram, in Lahore, Pakistan, 27 June 2025. EPA/RAHAT DAR
A Pakistani policeman keeps watch on a roadside during the month of Muharram, in Lahore, Pakistan, 27 June 2025. EPA/RAHAT DAR
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Car Bombing Kills 13 Pakistani Soldiers Near Afghan Border

A Pakistani policeman keeps watch on a roadside during the month of Muharram, in Lahore, Pakistan, 27 June 2025. EPA/RAHAT DAR
A Pakistani policeman keeps watch on a roadside during the month of Muharram, in Lahore, Pakistan, 27 June 2025. EPA/RAHAT DAR

An explosive-laden car rammed into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, sources said.

Four Pakistani intelligence officials and a senior local administrator told Reuters that the convoy was attacked in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district.

Around 10 other soldiers were wounded, some critically, and they were being airlifted to a military hospital, the sources said.

"It was huge, a big bang," said the local administrator, adding that residents of the town could see a large amount of smoke billowing from the scene from a great distance.

One resident said that the explosion rattled the windowpanes of nearby houses, and caused some roofs to collapse.

No one has so far claimed responsibility.

The Pakistani military did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The lawless district which sits next to Afghanistan has long served as a safe haven for different militant groups, who operate on both sides of the border.

Islamabad says the militants run training camps in Afghanistan to launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying the militancy is Pakistan's domestic issue.

Pakistani Taliban also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of several militant groups, has long been waging a war against Pakistan in a bid to overthrow the government.

The Pakistani military, which has launched several offensives against the militants, has mostly been their prime target.