Moscow has shattered weeks of ambiguity over the Gulf war, vowing to “block any US attempt to crush Iran” and signalling it is ready to use both its veto at the UN and its military power to stop Washington, Russian officials say.

In an emergency session of the UN Security Council, Russia’s envoy warned that any resolution authorising force against Tehran would be “dead on arrival,” accusing the US of trying to “finish by bombing what it could not win at the negotiating table.” Cameras captured stunned diplomats as the ambassador added that Russia “will not tolerate regime‑change operations on its southern flank.”

Almost simultaneously, the Russian defence ministry announced “enhanced naval patrols” in the eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Sea, with frigates and submarines reportedly ordered to “monitor and, if necessary, interpose” themselves between US task forces and Iranian waters. State TV ran footage of Kalibr‑armed warships leaving port, calling them a “shield for the Islamic Republic.”

Washington dismissed the move as “theatre,” insisting operations against Iranian missile and drone sites will continue under existing coalitions, not the UN flag. But Pentagon planners privately admit that Russian radar, ships and aircraft crowding the same skies and seas raise the risk of a dangerous close call.

In European capitals, alarm is spreading that the Gulf conflict is mutating into a great‑power confrontation. One senior EU diplomat put it bluntly: “If Russia truly intends to ‘block’ US action, the next escalation may no longer be about Iran at all, but about Washington and Moscow staring each other down over the Gulf.”