Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Saint Petersburg as part of a broader tour as peace talks with the United States appear deadlocked.
During the meeting, Putin praised the Iranian people, who he said are “courageously and heroically fighting for their sovereignty,” and stressed that Moscow will work to bring peace to the Middle East.
“For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests, the interests of all the peoples of the region, to ensure that this peace is achieved as quickly as possible,” Russia’s state-run RIA news agency quoted Putin as saying during the meeting.
The Russian president also said he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week.
“We sincerely hope that, drawing on this courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people will, under the leadership of a new leader, navigate this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” he added.
Araghchi thanked Moscow for its support of Tehran, praising the relations between the two countries.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on Monday. pic.twitter.com/0XNjn54AeC
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 27, 2026
He stressed that Iran will continue fighting the US, saying, “The entire world has been proven that the Iranian people, through their resistance and their courage, were able to resist American attacks, American aggression, and will be able to endure and survive this period.”
What happened: The meeting gathered Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, chief of Russian military intelligence Igor Kostyukov and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Araghchi was accompanied by the deputy head of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Kazem Gharibabadi, and Tehran’s envoy to Russia, Kazem Jalali.
Kostyukov’s presence is particularly interesting following reports during the war that Moscow has been giving Iran targeting intelligence that could help identify and strike US military assets in the Middle East, including the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft in Gulf states. That support has improved Iran’s ability to hit US bases and other installations more precisely.
The top Iranian diplomat landed at Saint Petersburg earlier on Monday following stops in Pakistan and Oman over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters at Pulkovo Airport, Araghchi said his trip to Russia aims to resume consultations between Tehran and Moscow on regional and international developments, talks derailed by the US-Israel war that erupted on Feb. 28.
He added that the visit would also be an opportunity to review the latest developments in the war, saying, “It is natural that the necessary coordination must also be made.”
Araghchi’s trip to Russia on Monday is his first since the Iran war began. He last visited Moscow back in December 2015.
Russia and Iran maintain close relations. The two countries have strengthened military and economic ties in the face of sanctions by the West and by their growing political isolation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In a $1.7 billion deal signed in late 2022, Iran agreed to supply Russia with hundreds of drones for its offensive against Ukraine.
Although Moscow has refrained from engaging directly in the war, which is now suspended under a ceasefire, it has provided military support to Iran.
“We have a technical-military cooperation agreement, and within that framework, we have provided military equipment to Iran,” Lavrov said in an interview with France TV last month, without specifying the type of equipment.
However, he denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that Moscow was sharing with Tehran satellite and intelligence on the locations of US warships and aircraft in the region.
What it means: Araghchi embarked on a flurry of regional diplomacy over the weekend, beginning with a visit on Friday to Pakistan, which has been leading mediation efforts between Iran and the US to secure a permanent end to the hostilities.
He then traveled to Oman in his first visit to the Gulf since the onset of the war, during which Iran launched hundreds of drone and missile attacks at Gulf countries in response to joint US-Israeli strikes.
In Muscat on Sunday, Araghchi met with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said and Omani Foreign Minister Badr AlBusaidi on the latest regional developments, including the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the efforts to end the war.
Speaking to reporters in Russia on Monday, Araghchi said it was “necessary” to discuss the situation in the key waterway. “Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is an important and global issue, and we and Oman, as two countries overlooking this strait, need to have close coordination to ensure common interests,” he said.
Busaidi praised his talks with Araghchi in a post on X Sunday, adding, “As littoral states, we recognize our shared responsibility to the international community and the urgent humanitarian need to free the seafarers held for far too long. Much diplomacy is required and practical solutions to ensure lasting freedom of navigation.”
The Iranian minister also spoke about the ongoing mediation efforts with his Saudi, Qatari and French counterparts in separate phone conversations on Sunday. Later on Sunday, Araghchi returned to Pakistan before departing for Russia.
Know more: Maritime traffic across the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted due to Iran’s de facto closure of the waterway and a US blockade, sending global energy prices surging.
Two regional officials told the Associated Press on Monday that Iran has suggested reopening the strait in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on the country and ending the war. According to the Iranian proposal, which was reportedly discussed between Iranian and Pakistani officials over the weekend and passed on to the US, negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program would be put off to a later stage.
Araghchi’s tour had revived hope for the resumption of talks before Trump abruptly canceled a planned trip by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, where a new round of negotiations was due to take place on Saturday.
“I just canceled the trip of my representatives going [to] Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
Later, Trump told Fox News that if Iran wanted talks, “they can come to us, or they can call us,” though he said he did not intend to resume the fighting with Iran.
Last week, Trump indefinitely extended a two-week ceasefire that was announced on April 8.
Representatives from Iran and the US held only one round of talks in Islamabad on April 11-12, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement, with differences centered on the Strait of Hormuz, the US blockade of Iranian ports and Iran’s right to uranium enrichment.