Netanyahu takes another step towards his goal of re-election

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that the success of the talks aimed at ending the war with the United States remains dependent on the absence of “pressure and threats,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

In his speech during the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Turkmenistan, Bezashkian said: “Dialogue does not gain meaning and has no chances of success unless it is based on mutual respect and mutual commitments, and if it is free of pressures and threats.”

On Thursday, Pezeshkian met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, after they arrived in Turkmenistan to participate in the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, an organization that includes former Soviet republics. The summit began on Friday at the Avaza resort overlooking the Caspian Sea. Iran and Russia are among the countries most subject to sanctions in the world.

Putin said, according to what was reported by Russian news agencies: “We are ready to do everything in our power to contribute to resolving this situation,” considering that Iran has made “real efforts to end the war” that broke out with American-Israeli strikes on it on February 28.

He praised the "positive development" in relations between Russia and Iran, which have strengthened their diplomatic and military ties since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kiev and the Western countries accused Iran of providing Russia with “Shahed” drones and short-range missiles that it used to strike Ukraine, while Russia was accused of providing Tehran with data to determine targets in order to strike American interests in the Middle East.

The two presidents previously met in September on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, and before that in Turkmenistan in December 2025.

The Russian President informed his Iranian counterpart during a phone call on Wednesday of his country’s readiness to help mediate an end to the war in the Middle East, according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA).

The call and subsequent meeting between the two presidents came in light of the stagnation prevailing over the talks between Iran and the United States, and after Pezeshkian stated this week that the negotiations with Washington had become “meaningless.”

Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict in Ukraine are also faltering, with both sides escalating their mutual attacks, while two American sources told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s envoys will discuss “new ideas” with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami on Friday to end the war.

Iranian official media quoted Pezeshkian as saying during his meeting with Putin that his country “is engaged in the dialogue, but the United States attacks again every time we negotiate with it.”

On Thursday, Trump ruled out launching a new attack on Iran before the US midterm elections scheduled for November 3, saying that Washington was holding “fruitful discussions” with Tehran.

Pezeshkian said that Tehran would like to see a “final framework” to end the war, but accused the United States of “seeking to impose its policies and vision on all countries.” He added: “If Washington insists on a unilateral approach, reaching a solution will not be possible.”

Kremlin Advisor Yuri Ushakov said that Putin's meeting with Pezhsekyan during the CIS summit constitutes one of several bilateral meetings scheduled on the sidelines of the summit.

In addition to Putin and Bezsekyan, the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan and other countries from Central Asia are participating in the summit.

The Commonwealth of Independent States was established in 1991, with the aim of limiting the repercussions of the collapse of the Soviet Union and maintaining ties between its former republics.

Janibek Arinov, a researcher on geopolitical issues in Central Asia who resides in Kazakhstan, said that “the goal was to settle problems” between these republics “such as economic issues, some political problems, and governance issues,” noting that the association “played an important role in the 1990s, but it has not really developed since then.”

Several countries later withdrew from it, as Georgia left after its war with Russia (2008), and Ukraine suspended its participation after Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, while Moldova withdrew in 2023, seeking to strengthen its relations with the European Union.

Timur Umarov, a researcher at the Carnegie Center for Russia and Eurasia in Berlin, explained that Moscow, which still plays a dominant role in the region, believes that “the CIS shows that Russia has its own sphere of influence, which this organization strengthens and institutionalizes.”

However, a number of ASEAN countries are seeking to diversify their economic and diplomatic partnerships, especially by strengthening their relations with Beijing and Western countries.

“Even if Russia decides to use this platform to broadcast anti-Western or anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, this does not mean that other members will automatically support its position,” Arinov said.