Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the hostile policy being pursued by the United States against Iran has fueled tensions in the Middle East, warning that such an approach could have “catastrophic consequences” in the region.

In an interview with the Russian ‘Argumenty i Fakty’ weekly published on Wednesday, Lavrov said the current flare-up of regional tensions is the “direct consequence of Washington’s and some of its allies' anti-Iranian line, Press TV reported.

He also warned that Washington’s muscle-flexing against Tehran may lead to a “dangerous situation.”

"The US is flexing its muscles, it has launched a campaign to discredit Iran, has accused the Islamic Republic of all the sins,” Lavrov said. “It creates a dangerous situation where a spark would be enough to light a fire. The US would be responsible for any possible catastrophic consequences.”

The European Parliament has confirmed model centrist liberal politician Ursula von der Leyen as the next president of the EU Commission, narrowly exceeding the 374 votes she needed to take one of the bloc’s top jobs.

Von der Leyen, a former German Defense Minister who came to politics after a career in medicine, was confirmed by a vote of 383 to 327, speaker of the assembly David Sassoli said on Tuesday. Sassioli also said there were 22 abstentions and one blank vote, according to RT.

While warning against a potential military attack targeting Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the warlike officials around US President Donald Trump will not succeed in enabling such a course of action against the Islamic Republic, according to Press T.V.

 “People know that Iran is a big, proud country…We will not take a military attack lightly," Zarif told NBC News on Monday.

He, however, observed that he did not think that Trump was seeking such one either, instead pointing the finger for such malign intentions to “people are around him (Trump) who wouldn't mind."

"But I don't think they'll succeed because at the end of the day, I think prudence will prevail,” the top diplomat stated.

MOSCOW - Russia welcomes consultations between Venezuela’s government and the opposition and wants the sides to withdraw from the crisis as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference after negotiations with Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson-Smith.

"Of course, we discussed Venezuela. We want Venezuela’s government and the opposition to agree on the withdrawal from the current crisis as soon as possible," the diplomat said. "We welcome the negotiations that are taking place under the so-called Oslo process."

In May, at least two rounds of indirect negotiations between Venezuela’s authorities and the opposition, organized with the Norwegian authorities’ intermediacy, were held in Oslo. On July 8, a new stage of dialogue was launched in Barbados. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated that the negotiations were tight; not ruling out that the consultations may culminate in agreements.

MOSCOW, (ST)- Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov and the Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad have discussed the situation in Syria and developments of  counterterrorism process.

The two sides stressed the need to completely uproot terrorism from Syria, reiterating that solving the crisis will only be done by the Syrians themselves pursuant to the results of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi as well as the Astana talks and the Security Council resolution No. 2254.