- Hossein Amirabdollahian did not name the European leader behind the initiative.
- Iran has repeatedly stated that fighting must stop through dialogue and refuses to condemn Moscow.
- Tehran says NATO expansion is the root of the problem.
A supposed “peace initiative” for ending the conflict in Ukraine, put up by a European leader, has been transmitted by Iran to Russia. Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, confirmed that he had given the European proposal to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi while standing next to Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, at a news conference on Wednesday in Moscow.
Amirabdollahian stated, “There are suggestions to help bring about peace and put an end to the conflict in Ukraine, and I presented these suggestions with Mr. Lavrov. He did not provide any additional information or identify the European leader behind the idea, but he did say that the proposal addresses the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and prisoners of war.
The International Atomic Energy Agency sent experts to the plant in southeast Ukraine after recent shelling raised concerns about a potential nuclear accident.
In response to the firefights, Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of negligence and endangering the safety of civilians.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the figurehead who communicated the message to Tehran, according to an earlier Wednesday report on Iran’s semi-official ISNA news website. However, no officials have responded to the story.
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The political advisor to the Iranian president, Mohammad Jamshidi, tweeted on Wednesday that Amirabdollahian had received “an significant message from a major western European politician” as well as a “peace initiative.”
Iran has frequently transported messages between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 of this year, but this is the first known instance of Tehran sending a message from Europe.
The Islamic Republic has refused to denounce Moscow and has often said that conflict must end through negotiation. Tehran claims that the cause of the issue is the expansion of NATO.
In the meantime, as Western sanctions against Russia mount, Moscow is growing commerce with Iran, among other things, a point both Amirabdollahian and Lavrov emphasised on Wednesday.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran in July and informed him NATO would have eventually initiated the Ukraine war if the 69-year-old “not taken the initiative,” Raisi, and other prominent figures.
While this is going on, Washington has been claiming for months that Moscow wants to buy “hundreds” of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to employ in Ukraine. Tehran has refuted this accusation.
However, earlier this month, the two countries took part in an Iranian-hosted competition for military drones in the capital city of Kashan.
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