Iran president offers US olive branch

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday vowed to match any US move to return to a June deal aimed at ending their war, as he prepares to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a regional summit.

The two allies were due to hold talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan, a bloc promoted by Russia and China as an alternative to Western power.

“I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,” Pezeshkian said, according to the Iran presidency’s website.

The memorandum aimed at ending hostilities between Tehran and Washington that began in late February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran that killed former supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The deal, meant to set the stage for final peace talks, later collapsed, with both sides accusing each other of violating its terms.

Pezeshkian’s remarks came as the Strait of Hormuz remained a key point of contention between Iran and the United States, which resumed exchanging fire on Monday after more than a month of relative calm.

Tehran has maintained its closure of the strategic waterway, while saying it would return to its commitments under the June deal, which included reopening Hormuz, if the United States did the same.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also urged the US to “return to its commitments and to what their president signed.”

“In that case, everything can be put back on the right track,” he said.

Putin met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday at the SCO summit, which is also playing host to leaders of countries including Turkey, India and Pakistan.

The summit takes place four-and-a-half years into Moscow’s Ukraine invasion and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran.

Xi said Russia-Chinese ties had become “more solid” and that their “prospects will be even brighter,” while Putin said cooperation was “successfully developing on all fronts.”

Russia’s economy has become increasingly dependent on China since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has also massively deepened military and economic ties with Iran.

But US President Donald Trump has warned Moscow and Beijing against arming Iran.

The SCO has historically focused on economic issues but has gained momentum in recent years under Moscow’s and Beijing’s leadership.

On top of its 10 members, it now has 15 “dialogue partners,” including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and two observer countries: Afghanistan and Mongolia.