During Putin visit, Iran blames US for failed peace talks

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the U.S. for the failure of peace negotiations, calling Washington’s demands “excessive” during a visit to Russia on Monday.

“There were some signs of progress in the negotiations. The American approach meant that the previous round of negotiations failed to achieve its goals, despite the progress made,” he told reporters upon arrival in St. Petersburg, according to Russian state media. Araghchi added, “This happened because of their excessive demands and [their] wrong approaches.”

Araghchi is set to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin about the conflict in the Middle East later Monday.

His comments came a day after he rushed back to Islamabad to join negotiations with the U.S., while a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire in the American-Israeli war with Tehran has been in place since April 8.

The move also follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision over the weekend to cancel plans to send special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to the talks, writing on Truth Social: “They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18 hour flights to sit around talking about nothing.”

Araghchi used his visit to Russia to stress his country’s links to Moscow. “We have always maintained close consultations with Russia and have held continuous bilateral discussions on a wide range of issues,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.