Following high-level mediation efforts in Islamabad over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Monday.

The diplomatic surge comes as US President Donald Trump was set to convene his senior national security team to evaluate a fresh Iranian peace proposal, delivered via Pakistan, aimed at ending the months-long Middle East crisis and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

US media reported, citing anonymous sources, that the proposal calls for reopening the narrow shipping lane in the Persian Gulf in exchange for lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports and ending the war. Talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme would be deferred to a later stage.

According to Russian news agency Tass, Putin told Araghchi that the Iranian people are fighting “courageously and heroically” for their sovereignty and that Moscow would do “everything in its power” to achieve peace “as quickly as possible”.

Putin also confirmed that he received a message from Iran’s Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week. Last year, Iran and Russia strengthened their cooperation by elevating ties to a 20-year strategic partnership.

As part of this broader relationship, Tehran has supplied Russia with Shahed drones for use in the war in Ukraine. Russia is helping expand Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.