Israel-Iran war: Vladimir Putin says Russia could help end Middle East conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to help mediate an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, suggesting a settlement could allow Tehran to pursue a peaceful atomic program while assuaging Israeli security concerns.

Speaking to senior news leaders of international news agencies, Mr Putin noted that “it’s a delicate issue,” but added that “in my view, a solution could be found.”

Mr Putin said he shared Moscow’s proposals with Iran, Israel and the United States. His comments follow a mediation offer that he made in a call with US President Donald Trump last weekend.

Mr Trump said on Wednesday that he told Putin to keep focused on finding an endgame to his own conflict with Ukraine.

“I said, ‘Do me a favour, mediate your own,’” Mr Trump said he told Mr Putin. “I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first. You can worry about this later.’”

The comments represented a shift for Mr Trump, who earlier this week said he was “open” to Mr Putin’s offer to mediate in the Middle East.

Mr Putin, meeting with senior news leaders of international news agencies, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, emphasised that Russia has a trusting relationship with Iran and built its first nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it has developed strong economic and military ties with Iran, a policy that potentially opens opportunities for Moscow to play power broker to help end the confrontation.

Mr Putin used his round table to praise Mr Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine, seconding the US leader’s repeated claims that the three-year-old conflict wouldn’t have started if he had been in the White House in 2022.

“If Trump had been the president, the conflict indeed might not have erupted,” Mr Putin said.

Russia has intensified its aerial campaign in Ukraine in recent months and stepped up ground attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometre front line. He has effectively rejected Mr Trump’s offer of an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt on Ukraine’s mobilisation effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.

He said he is open for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but repeated his claim that he lost his legitimacy after his term expired last year - allegations rejected by Ukraine and its allies.

“We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of settlement,” Mr Putin said, noting that the previous round of talks had paved the way for the exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.

The Russian leader also dismissed Western warnings of Russia’s purported plans to attack NATO countries as “ravings,” noting that the alliance’s military spending far exceeds Moscow’s defence budget.

The Russian leader has used the annual forum to highlight Russia’s economic achievements and seek foreign investment. Western executives, who attended the event in the past, have avoided it after Mr Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, leaving it to business leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Putin met earlier with former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who now heads the New Development Bank created by the BRICS alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He is also set to have meetings with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.