Russian Official: Israel is the Sole Loser in Iran Conflict, Faces Zugzwang

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. Israel is the only party that has definitively lost in the conflict around Iran and finds itself in a zugzwang situation on future developments, Russian Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev told TASS in an interview.

"Israel is the only clear loser in this conflict. First of all, Israel is not participating in the negotiation process. Discussions about Israel’s actions - what it can and cannot do - are taking place without it. This, of course, is not very nice. Second, Israel is under time pressure: it needs to achieve some kind of result before the fall elections. For Mr. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the outcome of these elections is a matter of survival as he is facing criminal prosecution, and the loss of his immunity would mean prison time," the senator said.

"Israel is currently in what is known in chess as zugzwang, a situation in which every subsequent move leads to a worsening of the situation," he added.

According to the senator, this situation is evident, in particular, in the fact that Israel should not continue its military operations against Lebanon, but it does so because "anything else would look like a defeat." "It seems as though it (Israel - TASS) should not continue to put pressure on Iran, but it does so because anything else would look like a defeat. It shouldn’t strain relations with the US, its main ally, but it is forced to do so by declaring that it will not support the US agreement with Iran," Kosachev noted.