Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia on April 27. It is an important trip for the Iranian diplomat. It comes as the US and Iran continue to talk about talks to end the conflict, which the US and Israel began on February 28 with attacks on Iran.
Iran has been working with Pakistan to mediate talks with the US. It has also worked with Oman. Oman had hosted talks in February about the strikes.
Russia has been a long-time friend of Iran. Iran has supplied Russia with kamikaze drones for Moscow’s use against Ukraine. However, Russia was not able to do much to support Iran during the US strikes on the country.
The last high-level meeting Putin had with Iranian officials was in January. At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Larijani was killed in an airstrike during the war.
According to reports at the BBC and via a Telegram channel, Araghchi met with Putin and others in Russia. “Putin is joined by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, and Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency,” the BBC noted.
Araghchi told Russian state media that Iran and Russia have a "strategic relationship.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also discussed the meetings with the Iranian. He said the meetings were useful, Russia’s state media TASS noted.
Peskov: Russia ready to mediate a US-Iran deal
“Earlier, Putin offered Araghchi Russia's support in ending the Iran war, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was ready to mediate in reaching a peace deal,” BBC noted. Araghchi said Iran is "standing up to the world's greatest superpower [the US].” Moscow will be pleased by this. Moscow wants a multi-polar world order. It wants to see US power decline.
The fact that the US could not vanquish Iran quickly has helped inform Moscow’s own thinking. It is also informing China’s assessments. Iran certainly wants more support from Russia.
Iran, so far, is likely hoping that more will happen. The BBC noted that “the Iranian delegation meeting Putin in Russia also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi and Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is offering "goodwill or mediation services acceptable to both sides.” Russia may want to engage in new talks with the US about Ukraine. Moscow knows some in Washington are sympathetic to Moscow in its war with Ukraine.
Russia could benefit by talking to Washington about Iran. In the past, Russia has done this, such as during the Obama administration, when Russia appeared to want to “help” the US with a deal with Iran.
This benefited Moscow. Moscow used the temporary thaw with the US during the first Obama administration to prepare for more meddling in Ukraine.
Russia is watching the status of US-Iran talks closely. Trump had held off on sending envoys to Pakistan for a new round of talks. Reports say Iran now wants to discuss the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear issue separately.
The US appears to assess that Iran is deeply divided internally, with the IRGC and other Iranian officials squabbling among themselves. Russia’s focus on the US is clear from a TASS report saying “US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had never had direct contact with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.”
It quotes Rubio as saying, "I have never spoken to the foreign minister of Iran, as I said, and he rarely has spoken to our people. It’s mostly indirect talks.” Rubio made the comments in an interview with the Fox News TV channel.
"There’s been some direct communication over the last few weeks with regards to these meetings that have taken place [in Islamabad]. Remember, for a long time, there was a prohibition in the Iranian system against speaking directly to Americans.”
Middle East Eye reported that “Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had received a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, whose public absence has drawn scrutiny.” Reuters noted that “Putin praises Iranian people for resistance to US in talks with Araqchi.”
Meanwhile, Arab News in Saudi Arabia added that US President Donald Trump is “not happy with latest Iran proposal to end the war, US official says.”
Iran needs to receive “credible guarantees” against further attacks from the US in order for the Gulf to be stable, Iran’s envoy to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani said. “Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the UN, Abdulaziz Alwasil, on Monday warned of the risks to global trade and energy security resulting from the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz,” Arab News added.
