Kremlin: Putin relayed Iran’s plan to end the war to Trump, in coordination with Pezeshkian

Vladimir Putin conveyed to Donald Trump the Iranian side’s view on a possible resolution of the conflict, in coordination with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 10, according to TASS. The disclosure concerns the October 9 phone call between the two presidents, which became known mainly for the agreement on Russian diesel.

According to Peskov, Putin held two meetings with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan. At one of them he told the Iranian president about his upcoming call with Trump. “Putin then conveyed the Iranian side’s vision for a possible resolution of the conflict to Trump, in coordination with the Iranian president,” Peskov said.

The meeting in Turkmenistan

On the sidelines of the CIS summit and the Caspian Environmental Summit, Putin also held a separate meeting with Pezeshkian, and a trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan took place. There the Russian president told Pezeshkian that Moscow is ready to do “everything we can” to end Iran’s war with the United States.

Peskov gave no details of the content of the Iranian positions or of Trump’s reaction. Tehran is meanwhile preparing a reply to the US “seven-day plan”, and the American president has said that the United States will not attack Iran before the midterm elections on November 3.

Ukraine at the centre

In a separate statement, Peskov said most of the conversation was devoted to Ukraine, “at the initiative of US President Donald Trump”, as TASS also reported. “During the conversation, the Russian president responded with understanding to some proposals from the US side regarding steps aimed at de-escalation,” he added, without saying which.

After the call, Trump announced that Russia would send millions of tons of diesel to the American and global markets: over 300,000 tons immediately, another 500,000 in November and then 1 million tons, with a possible delivery of 3 million tons depending on the state of Russian refineries.

The role of intermediary

Moscow is seeking to present itself as an interlocutor of Washington on both Ukraine and Iran, at a time when the US–Iran war is affecting fuel prices and Trump is in a pre-election period. Putin’s relaying of Iranian positions suggests that Tehran is using the Russian leadership as a channel to the White House, while Ukrainian delegations complain that they are not being informed about Washington–Moscow understandings.