Pezeshkian Tells Putin Iran Never Left the Talks, Three Days After Calling Them Meaningless

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan on Thursday that Iran has not walked away from negotiations with the United States. On Monday, IRNA had quoted him calling those negotiations “meaningless”. Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social the same day that the United States would not attack Iran before the midterm elections on 3 November.

Putin had offered help the day before, on a call for his 74th birthday, which Silent Dossier covered in an earlier report on the mediation offer. Anadolu reported that Thursday’s meeting was their first in person since the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek on 1 September. The wider negotiations are followed on the Iran-US talks tracker.

Pezeshkian’s public line moved from “meaningless” on Monday to a pledge not to leave the table on Thursday. Putin repeated his offer of help in person, in words Interfax reported without any mechanism attached. Trump’s 3 November pledge and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s promised reply “within a few days” are the only dated markers.

On Monday 5 October, Pezeshkian said in comments carried by IRNA and reported by AFP that “negotiations are meaningless”. He said Iran had been attacked three times after talks.

On Thursday 8 October he met Putin in Turkmenistan, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States summit and a Caspian Sea summit. Shafaq News quoted him: “Every time we were negotiating, the United States attacked us, yet we never left the negotiating table.” Shafaq added that Iran is preparing proposals to send through mediators, and that Pezeshkian warned continued unilateral US action would make a near-term end to the conflict unlikely. Shafaq said he thanked Russia for its support at the United Nations.

Russian news agencies, as relayed by AFP and Reuters, quoted Putin as saying Russia is “ready to do everything we can to help you resolve this situation”. He said Iran is making “real efforts to end the conflict”. Anadolu reported that the presidents also discussed energy, agriculture, transport and trade.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump wrote that “we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd”, according to CBS News. Araghchi told the Students News Network that Iran would reply “within a few days” to US feedback on its seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as Silent Dossier reported in its account of the pledge.

CBS also relayed an Atlantic report, dated 8 October, that the White House had asked the Pentagon for options to resume strikes on Iran before the midterms. A Republican source told the magazine: “It would make the president look like he got a win.” CBS reported no White House response.

Pezeshkian said on 5 October that talks were “meaningless”. Putin offered help on 7 October, per IRNA as carried by AFP. On 8 October Pezeshkian told Putin Iran had never left the table, and Trump put 3 November on the record.

On Monday he cited three attacks after talks. On Thursday he cited the same history again: “Every time we were negotiating, the United States attacked us.” The first time he drew the conclusion that talks were meaningless. The second time he drew the opposite one, beside the leader he thanked, per Shafaq, for support at the United Nations.

Trump described “productive discussions” on Thursday. Araghchi, per CBS, tied Iran’s reply to the Hormuz plan. Pezeshkian said proposals were being prepared for mediators. Qatari officials had said earlier this week that mediation was “gradually progressing”, in the account in Silent Dossier’s earlier report.

No report of the meeting names the same proposal in all three accounts. Anadolu listed energy, agriculture, transport and trade as the agenda items, and none of the reports reviewed lists a Russian role in the talks with Washington.

CBS carried both Trump’s pledge and the Atlantic report within hours. The pledge is dated. The Atlantic’s Republican source, who is not named, spoke of options prepared before that date. Per CBS, Trump’s post covers an attack and says nothing of the blockade.

Araghchi said “within a few days” on Thursday. On 25 September, he proposed a seven-day plan that asked for an end to the US naval blockade, an oil sanctions waiver and a Lebanon ceasefire before the Strait reopens, as reported in Silent Dossier’s earlier coverage. The reply will show whether any of those conditions has changed.

Pezeshkian spoke of mediators without naming them. Trump spoke of “productive discussions”. No mediator has confirmed carrying both texts.

The last marker is 3 November, the date in Trump’s post.