Rezaei Phones Putin on West Asia as Iran's US Peace Plan Waits

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's National Security Council, picked up the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The two talked regional and global developments, with West Asia front and center, according to Iran's Fars News Agency. Rezaei thanked Moscow for standing by Iran, and both sides promised to keep their strategic cooperation rolling.

The call dropped at a delicate moment. Rezaei has yet to respond to a letter from US Vice President JD Vance, the report notes. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran's seven-step peace plan to settle its conflict with Washington could be implemented within two days — if the United States agrees to it.

Russia isn't hiding its nerves. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Monday that signals of fresh military action against Iran are 'extremely alarming.' She described Iran as having faced 'unprovoked aggression by the US and Israel' and said the conflict remains unresolved, tangled up with other Middle East crises.

On the diplomatic front, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said there are no precise plans yet for a Putin-Trump meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. He added that Putin plans to meet with Chinese officials, though details are still up in the air.