Russian president Vladimir Putin has pledged to “do everything” to help end the Middle East conflict during talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday.“We are ready to do everything that is in our power to contribute to the settlement of this situation,” Putin said during the meeting on Thursday, as reported by Russia’s Tass news agency.Putin said Iran had made “real efforts” to end the US-Israel war against the country. Pezeshkian, meanwhile, said Iran would not “walk away” from efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, according to a statement from the Iranian presidency.“We are engaged in dialogue; however, every time we talk to the US, they launch new attacks. Nevertheless, we will not walk away from the negotiating table,” he said.Russia and Iran have strengthened their diplomatic and military ties since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, becoming increasingly reliant on each other. Putin and Pezeshkian also met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan last month.The latest contacts come as Iran-US negotiations appear to have reached an impasse. Pezeshkian said this week that talks with Washington were “meaningless”. Diplomatic efforts to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine also appear deadlocked, even as both sides intensify their attacks.Putin and Pezeshkian are attending the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit, which brings together leaders of former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, as well as Turkmenistan and other Central Asian states.Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the Putin-Pezeshkian meeting was among several bilateral engagements scheduled on the sidelines of the summit.
