TEHRAN -- Iran and Russia warned on Wednesday that a newly announced U.S. military task force aimed at restricting goods movement through the Caspian Sea poses a serious threat to regional stability, with Tehran saying it has agreed with Moscow on coordinated measures to counter a unilateral American escalation.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said after meeting Russian Ambassador to Tehran Alexey Dedov that the two sides discussed “issues surrounding the Caspian Sea and ways to confront unilateral U.S. actions and the plan known as the Iron Gate,” according to a post on X. 
Gharibabadi said Tehran and Moscow “emphasize the need for coordination and cooperation in the face of shared threats,” adding that “the interests of the coastal states will be secured by maintaining the stability and security of the Caspian”.
The talks followed the terrorist U.S. Central Command’s announcement on Nov. 7 of Task Force Iron Gate, which it said would be tasked with restricting the movement of goods across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea. 
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei dismissed it as an attempt by American military officials to cover up their failures, saying the CENTCOM commander “apparently plans to produce a new episode of ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’”.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Washington’s plan violates international law and amounts to a deliberate escalation.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the U.S. move is “another step in the path of increasing tension” and a “clear threat against the rights and interests of the sovereign Caspian littoral states”.
Zakharova stressed that ensuring security in the Caspian region is “an internal matter for the five coastal states” and warned that any attempt to implement the announced U.S. plan “could spread the crisis to neighboring regions”. 
She said such hostile action is “clearly another attempt to divert attention from the destructive consequences of the joint American-Israeli adventure in February,” which she said has caused serious domestic political problems in some countries, particularly the United States.
Russian military analyst Igor Korotchenko warned that any U.S. strikes on vessels or infrastructure in the Caspian would threaten all five littoral states—Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan—and could cause an environmental catastrophe if oil and gas platforms were hit. 
He urged the Caspian states to adopt an unequivocal position against the plan.