Russian Foreign Minister urged Israel on Saturday to abandon "essentially terrorist methods of settling political scores” as he commented on the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran Press/Europe: Lavrov said at a news conference in New York that he had the impression that Israel is trying to provoke Iran and the Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, to push the US into direct involvement in the conflict in the Middle East.

The Russian diplomat noted that Nasrallah's murder was not the first provocative step by Israel. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in July in the Iranian capital of Tehran where he went to take part in the funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi. Before that, Israel attacked the Iranian diplomatic mission in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

"Apparently, Israel wants to create a reason for the US to get involved in this war. And in order to create this reason, it has been provoking both Iran and Hezbollah. In this situation, Iranian leadership is behaving extremely responsibly," he said. "I don't think this is the right course, I am convinced that the bloodshed must be stopped.”

Asked about Israel's willingness to implement UN Security Council resolutions, Lavrov said: "I do not see Israel's desire to carry out any peace plans."

Lavrov then pledged to continue efforts to prevent the Mideast conflict from spreading to other countries.

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