Following high-level mediation efforts in Islamabad over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Monday.
The diplomatic surge comes as US President Donald Trump convened his senior national security team to evaluate a fresh Iranian peace proposal, delivered via Pakistan, aimed at ending the months-long Middle East crisis and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The White House confirmed the proposal called for reopening the narrow Persian Gulf shipping lane in return for lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports and ending the war, with nuclear talks deferred to a later stage, but didn’t say how the “America first” president viewed the proposition.
“I wouldn’t say they’re considering it. I would just say that there was a discussion this morning that I don’t want to get ahead of, and you’ll hear directly from the president, I’m sure, on this topic very soon,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
However, Leavitt asserted that Trump’s “red lines” with respect to Iran have been made “very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as well”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised Iran’s offer in an interview with Trump-friendly Fox News.
“What they mean by opening the straits is yes, the straits are opened, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us. That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways,” he said.
Trump’s top diplomat and national security adviser added that Tehran “cannot normalise, nor can we tolerate them”.
As Trump and his team huddled in Washington, Iran moved in parallel to engage the Kremlin.
According to Russian news agency Tass, Putin told Araghchi that the Iranian people are fighting “courageously and heroically” for their sovereignty and that Moscow would do “everything in its power” to achieve peace “as quickly as possible”.
Putin also confirmed that he received a message from Iran’s Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week. Last year, Iran and Russia strengthened their cooperation by elevating ties to a 20-year strategic partnership.
As part of this broader relationship, Tehran has supplied Russia with Shahed drones for use in the war in Ukraine. Russia is helping expand Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
However, the move was abruptly reversed when Trump cancelled the delegation’s trip. Tehran, meanwhile, maintained that no direct talks had been scheduled, stating instead that any messages would be conveyed indirectly through Islamabad.
In an interview with American news outlet CBS, Trump on Sunday said Iranian authorities “can call” if they want, while reiterating the war could “come to an end very soon”.
CNN reported that Araghchi handed over a list of “red lines” to be conveyed to the US through Pakistani officials, including “nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz”.
The top Iranian diplomat is expected to visit Oman after his visit to Russia, where he said that expert-level consultations were ongoing to protect shared interests in the narrow waterway that’s critical to global oil trade.
The whirlwind of diplomacy follows Trump’s unexpected and indefinite pause on further strikes against Iran at Pakistan’s request, even as the US Navy continues to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to a recent report published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, only four ships are passing per day in the strait compared with as many as 188 ships per day before the US-Israel war against Iran began on February 28.