ASHGABAT: Peace negotiations with Tehran would only succeed without “pressure and threats”, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday, amid deadlocked efforts to end months of fighting in the Middle East.

Diplomatic efforts to end the seven-month conflict have been at an impasse since the summer.

The United States and Iran agreed a memorandum of understanding in June that spelled out a framework for ending the conflict, but attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz prompted a resumption of US military operations.

Recent indirect talks between Washington and Tehran on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly failed to produce a breakthrough.

“Dialogue holds meaning and a chance of success only when based on mutual respect and mutual commitments, and when devoid of pressure and threat,” Pezeshkian said at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan.

“Negotiation conducted in the shadow of force is not negotiation, it is imposition and coercion,” he said, adding that sanctions on Iran would affect “regional trade, connectivity, energy, and order”.

Pezeshkian said on Monday that talks with the United States to end the war were worthless and only resulted in renewed attacks.

“With an enemy that everyday resorts to assassination, sanctions, pressure and threats, and that breaks its commitments, negotiations are meaningless,” he said.

Washington has dialled back military operations recently in favour of economic pressure and has not struck Iran since Sept 1.

The United States and Israel have said the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons -- a goal Tehran has long denied pursuing.

The focus of negotiations has since shifted to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for oil from the Gulf that has been effectively shut since the fighting began on Feb 28.

Iran has sought to impose its control over the vital shipping lane since the start of the war, striking vessels that attempt to transit without its authorisation. The US has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports and has also struck vessels it accuses of violating it.

Putin, Pezeshkian meet

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he would “do everything” he could to help end the war during a meeting with Pezeshkian ahead of the summit, Russian media reported.

“We are ready to do everything that is in our power to contribute to the settlement of this situation,” Putin said.

He added that Iran had made “real efforts to end the war”, according to Russian news agencies.

Putin also said there had been a “positive evolution” in Iran-Russia relations.

The two countries, heavily sanctioned by the West, have reinforced diplomatic and military links since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in Feb 2022, becoming increasingly reliant on each other.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026