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Kremlin Says Middle East Is Plunging into ‘Abyss of Instability and War’ 

A destroyed building is pictured at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
A destroyed building is pictured at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Kremlin Says Middle East Is Plunging into ‘Abyss of Instability and War’ 

A destroyed building is pictured at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
A destroyed building is pictured at the site of an Iranian missile attack in Ramat Gan in central Israel near Tel Aviv, on June 19, 2025. (AFP)

The Kremlin warned on Friday that the Middle East was plunging into "an abyss of instability and war" and said Moscow was worried by events and still stood ready to mediate. 

Russia, which has warm ties with Iran and also maintains close links to Israel, has urged the US not to strike Iran and has called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis around Tehran's nuclear program to be found. 

Asked on Friday if Russia had any red lines when it came to the situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that countries in the region were the ones who should have their own red lines. 

"The region is plunging into an abyss of instability and war," Peskov said. 

"This war is fraught with (the risk of) geographic expansion and unpredictable consequences. This region is at our borders. It's potentially dangerous for us and we are concerned." 

Although Russia does not border any country in the Middle East its southern North Caucasus region borders a belt of former Soviet republics which in turn border Iran and Türkiye. 

Peskov said that Moscow observed for now that Israel wanted to continue its military action against Iran, but said Russia has lines of communication open with Israel, the US and Iran. 

Peskov said it was hard to predict whether an offer by President Vladimir Putin to mediate in the crisis would be taken up or not, but said that Moscow favored an end to hostilities and a move to diplomacy as soon as possible. 

Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev said the situation at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, where hundreds of Russian specialists work, was "normal" and under control. 

The Israeli military said at one point on Thursday that it had struck the Russian-built Bushehr facility, but later said the comment had been made by mistake. Likhachev, head of the state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, said on Thursday that any attack on the plant could cause a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster. 

On Friday he told reporters in St Petersburg: "We...very much hope that all our signals from yesterday reached the Israeli leadership." 

Likhachev said Russia has just over 300 staff at Bushehr and a total presence of about 500 people, including family members. 

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Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A series of dozens of earthquakes were recorded in the span of hours in Guatemala, leaving two dead when rocks fell on their vehicle, authorities said. Landslides left several others buried.

More than 37 earthquakes and aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.0 to 5.6 were reported in Guatemala Tuesday afternoon, said Edwin Rodas, director of the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

The tremors resulted in the evacuation of buildings, landslides, and minor property damage, officials said, adding they were felt as far away as El Salvador.
The two men killed were traveling in a pickup truck on a local road in the department of Escuintla when the rocks fell from a hillside onto the vehicle, firefighters said, according to The Associated Press.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said at a press conference Tuesday that the main epicenter of the quakes was in the department of Sacatepéquez, with aftershocks in the regions of Escuintla and Guatemala department.

At least five people were buried by landslides, but emergency responders were able to rescue two, he added.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction declared an orange alert, the second-highest on the emergency scale.

The US Geological Survey reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake at 3:11 p.m. local time, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southwest of the town of Amatitlán, south of Guatemala City, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). It then reported another 5.7 magnitude quake 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of San Vicente Pacaya, a municipality in Escuintla, in the south-central region of the country.

Another 4.8 magnitude quake was reported 6 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Palín, also in Escuintla.

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