http://fr.rian.ru published an "urgent" bulletin datelined 3 p.m.
Thursday, Moscow time, quoting Alexander Losyukov, Russian Vice-Minister
of Foreign Affairs, as saying their contacts with Americans provided no
basis for expecting an attack on Iran this morning or in the next few
days. A bulletin at 8 a.m. this morning quoted "a highly placed Russian
military source" as saying nevertheless that military intelligence had
most recently obtained data showing an activation of preparations for an
attack on Iran. A bulletin at 9:42 a.m. today Tehran time confirmed
that the attack had not taken place. No explanation was given for the
false alarm. The Iranians responded that the Americans were making such
threats all the time, and that they were prepared to defend themselves.
The Russians have said (on 4/3) that they would do everything necessary
to prevent such an attack. For all I know, they succeeded for the
moment by means of this leak. The only other clue I found was in a
report at 11:29 a.m. today Tehran time--the first one in English on the
rian site--saying that the alarm had pushed oil to $70 a barrel. So
perhaps at least one mission accomplished.