Russian officials caution that U.S. direct military support for Israel risks triggering wider instability across the Middle East.

Leaning into pro-Palestinian and anti-Western sentiment allowed Russia to score points with global public opinion. But dynamics that initially seemed to benefit Russia quickly became a strategic headache.

In separate comments, the head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, was quoted as saying that the situation between Iran and Israel was now critical. Ryabkov warned the U.S.