Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sept. 1 vowed to match any U.S. move to return to a June deal aimed at ending their war, as he prepared to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at an international summit.
The two allies were due to hold talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan, a bloc promoted by Russia and China as an alternative to Western power.
Pezeshkian told the summit that if the United States returns to the deal aimed at ending months of hostilities, Iran “will immediately take reciprocal action,” according to the Iranian presidency’s website.
The deal, meant to set the stage for final peace talks, has collapsed as both sides accused each other of violating its terms.
Pezeshkian also warned that a return by the United States to “a policy of pressure and threats” risked derailing diplomatic efforts to end the war.
It began in late February with the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran that killed former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Pezeshkian’s remarks came after Iran and the United States resumed exchanging fire on Aug. 31 following more than a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz a key point of contention.
Tehran has maintained its closure of the strategic waterway, while saying it would return to its commitments under the June deal, which included reopening Hormuz, if the United States did the same.
Putin met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Aug. 31 at the SCO summit, which is also playing host to leaders of countries including Türkiye, India and Pakistan.
The summit takes place four-and-a-half years into Moscow’s Ukraine invasion and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran.
Xi said Russia-Chinese ties had become “more solid” and that their “prospects will be even brighter,” while Putin said cooperation was “successfully developing on all fronts.”
Russia’s economy has become increasingly dependent on China since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
