Iran foreign minister arrives in Russia as back-channel US contacts continue
Abbas Araghchi arrived in Saint Petersburg, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Telegram, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Saint Petersburg on Monday, Apr. 27, with Iranian and Russian state media saying he is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin. The visit came as indirect efforts to revive US-Iran contacts continued to shift between Pakistan, Oman and Russia, with the wider crisis still affecting energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz and markets far beyond Phuket.
Araghchi’s trip followed meetings in Islamabad and Oman as mediators tried to keep dialogue alive after Washington’s planned outreach faltered. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Telegram that he later left for Russia for talks with senior officials.
Pakistan and Oman kept indirect diplomacy moving
Hopes for a second round of contacts in Pakistan were hit on Saturday when US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned Islamabad trip by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The move followed Iranian state television saying Araghchi had no plans to meet US officials there.
Fars news agency reported that Iran sent “written messages” to the Americans through mediator Pakistan setting out red lines on issues including the nuclear file and the Strait of Hormuz. Fars said those messages were not part of formal negotiations.
On Sunday, Axios reported that Iran had sent a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, while postponing nuclear negotiations to a later stage, citing a US official and two other sources with knowledge of the matter. Iran’s state news agency IRNA cited the report without denying it.
Hormuz remains central as ceasefire holds under pressure
Araghchi said on X that talks in Oman focused on ensuring safe transit through Hormuz “to benefit of all dear neighbors and the world.” He added that “our neighbors are our priority.”
That message contrasted with a harder line from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which said they had no intention of lifting their blockade. The Guards said controlling the Strait of Hormuz and preserving its deterrent effect over the United States and its regional supporters was Iran’s “definitive strategy.”
The military standoff has deepened the economic fallout from the US-Israeli war with Iran even though the ceasefire has held. Iran has sealed off the strait, disrupting oil, gas and fertiliser shipments, while the United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in retaliation.
Source: https://www.thephuketnews.com/iran-foreign-minister-arrives-in-russia-as-us-talks-remain-stalled-100037.php
