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Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov spoke out after it was reported Donald Trump had ordered a drone attack on Iran last night, before pulling out at the last minute. Mr Ryabkov said “the situation is on the brink of war”, according to Russian news agency RIA. Yesterday Iran shot down a US drone which was flying in international airspace near the coast of Iran, in the Hormuz Strait.

Iran vowed to defend its “red lines”. And today, Iran said it could have brought down another of America's P8 planes - this time one with 35 passengers on board. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander said it refrained from shooting down the US plane that was accompanying the US drone because it simply wanted to send a warning to Donald Trump. Tasnim news agency reported Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division, as saying: "With the US drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board.

Iran and US putting world on brink of war, Russia rages after drone attack

“This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi tweeted Iran “responds with diplomacy… war with firm defence”. He was responding to comments made by US envoy to Iran, Brian Hook, who said during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: "Our diplomacy does not give Iran the right to respond with military force, Iran needs to meet our diplomacy with diplomacy and not military force. "It's important we do everything we can to de-escalate." Pictures have emerged of what Iran claims to be the wreckage of the downed US drone.

Iran claims this is debris from the downed US drone

Wreckage allegedly from the downed US drone

Iranian State TV IRIB broadcast the images of burnt out debris the Revolutionary Guards said had been recovered from inside its territorial waters. A senior administration official told the New York Times the order was given to suspend the mission before any missiles were fired. Mr Ryabkov claimed the US was “deliberately” raising tensions around Iran. Mr Ryabkov called on Washington to weigh the possible consequences of conflict with Iran and said a report in the New York Times showed the situation was extremely dangerous. Donald Trump sent a message to Iran through Oman overnight, warning a US attack was imminent, Iranian officials said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "In his message, Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues ... he gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran's immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei to decide about this issue.” A second official said: "We made it clear that the leader is against any talks, but the message will be conveyed to him to make a decision. “However, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences." Tensions have been rising after the US blamed Iran for an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The US claimed it had video evidence showing Iranian military officials removing an unexploded missile from one of the targeted ships.

US vs Iran - firepower compared

Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

RQ-4 Global Hawk drone