Lavrov Lands in Tehran as Gulf States Press Russia on Iran War — SkimNews
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- Sergey Lavrov met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Monday — his first visit since February 2025 — to discuss ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, with talks spanning the Gulf, West Asia, Ukraine, and Iran-US negotiations.
- GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi said member states have absorbed more than 7,000 Iranian missiles and drones since the war began, and the six Arab states want Iran's nuclear, missile, and proxy-support programmes included in any future peace framework.
- Lavrov told GCC ministers in Manama the day before that the region was "teetering on the brink of full-scale war" and floated a "collective security" architecture that could be extended to Iraq and Jordan — both struck by Iranian fire.
- Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's commitment to its 20-year strategic partnership with Iran, which officially came into force on October 2, 2026, and endorsed the collapsed June Iran-US MoU as a basis for de-escalation.
- Analyst Nikita Smagin said Russia's position is contradictory: it profits economically from higher oil prices and restricted Iranian crude — which forces China to buy Russian oil at a premium — yet has limited leverage to end the war.
- Trump publicly contradicted US intelligence reports that Russia and China are supplying Iran with satellite imagery for targeting and weapons components, claiming they would have "too much to lose" by intervening.
Why it matters: Lavrov is the only external power both GCC states and Washington are engaging on the Iran war, yet analyst Smagin says Moscow's leverage is "limited" and its economic incentives lean toward prolonging a conflict that has rained 7,000+ Iranian projectiles on Gulf states. Russia is simultaneously cast as diplomatic middleman and accused by US agencies of arming Iran's targeting — a contradiction Trump publicly waved away.
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