Iran president offers US olive branch before Putin meeting

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Tuesday to match any US move to revive a June deal aimed at ending their war.

He spoke ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan.

What did Pezeshkian say about the US and the June deal?

Pezeshkian told the summit that Iran "will immediately take reciprocal action" if the United States returns to the June deal, according to the Iranian presidency's website.

He also warned that a US return to "a policy of pressure and threats" could derail diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Why did the June deal between Iran and the US collapse?

The deal was meant to set the stage for final peace talks between the two countries. It collapsed after both sides accused each other of violating its terms. The conflict began in late February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran that killed former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Pezeshkian's remarks came a day after Iran and the United States resumed exchanging fire, ending more than a month of relative calm. The Strait of Hormuz has become a key point of contention between the two sides. Tehran has kept the strategic waterway closed while saying it would reopen it if the US restored its own commitments under the June deal.

What is happening at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit?

The SCO summit is being held in Kyrgyzstan and is also hosting leaders from Turkey, India and Pakistan. It falls four and a half years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran. Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of the gathering.

Xi said Russia-China ties had become "more solid" and that their "prospects will be even brighter." Putin said cooperation between the two countries was "successfully developing on all fronts." Russia's economy has grown increasingly dependent on China since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has deepened military and economic ties with Iran despite US warnings.

What did Putin say about a multipolar world?

Putin told the summit on Tuesday that "the UN Charter must continue to serve as a key source of international law." He added that new multilateral regional structures are "organically integrating into the architecture of a multipolar world alongside the United Nations." The SCO has traditionally focused on economic issues but has expanded into other fields under Russian and Chinese leadership in recent years.

Beyond its 10 members, the bloc now counts 15 "dialogue partners," including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with two observer countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia.