Israel was exploiting its advantage, saying it had taken out dozens of surface-to-air missiles in western Iran and killed the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revoluti

Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it has developed strong economic and military ties with Iran.

By Dominique Vidalon and Stine Jacobsen PARIS/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Greenland to offer his support to the Arctic island, said on Sunday that Russia lacked the credibility to mediate the crisis between Israel and Iran as U.

The French leader was visiting Greenland — a self-governing part of Denmark with the right to declare independence that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to take over — ahead of a trip to Canada for the G7 leaders' summit.

An ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that "a full-scale war" in the Middle East is possible following Israel's airstrikes on Iran. Israel launched a series of airstrikes across Iran early Friday,

By Andrew Osborn and Alexander Marrow (Reuters) -Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Iran's president over the phone on Friday that Moscow condemned Israeli actions against Tehran, and in a separate telephone conversation told Israel's prime minister that only diplomacy could resolve issues around Iran's nuclear programme.

Russia said Sunday it had evacuated several of its citizens from Iran and halted activity at its Tehran consulate after Israeli attacks on the country sparked retaliatory missile fire towards Israel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday after Israel pelted Iran with a series of strikes.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump for 50 minutes on Saturday, focusing on hostilities between Israel and Iran and calling for efforts to bring them to an end.