Russia warns of escalating Iran tensions amid US military build up

Russia warned against an “unprecedented escalation of tension” around Iran on Thursday and urged restraint amid a U.S. military build-up in the region that a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.

U.S. threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, have pushed up oil prices and a Russian corvette on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.

Iranian...