Iran claims US asked Russia to mediate between Tehran and Washington

By AP Today, 8:30 pm

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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf gives a press conference at an event marking 40 days since the burial of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Mosque in Iraq’s central holy shrine city of Karbala on August 20, 2026. (Karar Jabbar/AFP)

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, tells Al Jazeera that US officials requested that Russian President Vladimir Putin facilitate negotiations between the country and Iran.

“It was the Americans who, during a visit to Moscow, spoke with Mr. Putin and asked him to speak with Iran so that, in any case, Iran would agree to speak directly with them,” Ghalibaf says.

The White House does not directly respond to a query about whether the US has asked Putin to facilitate talks with Iran.