When Israel first started bombing Iran, many in Russia saw it as an opportunity, a means of drawing support and attention away from Ukraine.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia remains ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Iran, and Moscow's previous proposal to store Iranian uranium in Russia remains on the table, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it has developed strong economic and military ties with Iran.

Israel was exploiting its advantage, saying it had taken out dozens of surface-to-air missiles in western Iran and killed the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revoluti

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel's "act of force" against Iran and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities when they spoke by phone on Monday,

Salem predicts that this attack may push Iran to make a deal with the U.S, "the outlines of which might be that Iran accepts to forgo enrichment inside Iran, with a big deal with the U.S. and the U.S. lifts sanctions on Iran and that could obviously lead to a sudden and rapid decline in oil prices, so one has to keep that in mind."

Israel-Iran latest: 78 people killed in Iran after ballistic missile strikes with hundreds of civilians injured - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Israel initiated a war

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in separate telephone conversations on Friday, told Iran's president that Moscow condemned Israel's actions against Tehran and told Israel's prime minister that questions around Iran's nuclear programme could only be solved through diplomacy.