Putin calls for swift de-escalation in West Asia in call with Iranian President Pezeshkian

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called for a swift de-escalation in West Asia in a call with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, the Kremlin said.

The call came as the US and Israel, and Iran maintain a cycle of retaliatory strikes, including on neighbouring Gulf nations.

"The Russian President reaffirmed his principled position in favour of a swift de-escalation of the conflict and its resolution through political means. Pezeshkian thanked Russia for its support, particularly for providing humanitarian aid to Iran," the Kremlin said without giving further details.

This was the second phone conversation this week between Putin and Pezeshkian. Moscow, which has vital interests in the Gulf States, has been actively interacting with all parties to seek de-escalation of the crisis amid the conflict in West Asia.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also discussed the situation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

"Lavrov once again set forth the Russian side's principled position in favour of de-escalating the conflict as soon as possible and resuming the process of a political and diplomatic peace settlement.

"The Russian side is invariably ready to facilitate this process, with due consideration for security interests of Iran and its regional neighbours," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a release posted on its web portal.

On Monday night, US President Donald Trump dialled Putin to discuss the situation in West Asia and Ukraine.

According to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, the two leaders discussed the conflicts between the US and Iran and between Russia and Ukraine during an hour-long telephonic conversation.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not specify what proposals Putin put forward for settling the Iran conflict during his hour-long phone call with Trump.

"No, I am not at liberty to elaborate at the moment. Nor do I have any intention of doing so," Peskov stated in response to a request to specify what proposals "remain on the table."

"These proposals have been conveyed by the [Russian] president to his counterpart. We will see what the coordination process looks like going forward," the spokesman noted.

"Since the very beginning of this story, before the start of the military standoff, President Putin offered various forms of mediation and services that could have helped to reduce tensions," Peskov said at the Kremlin news briefing on Tuesday morning.

However, in the current situation, Putin cannot yet be viewed as a mediator, Peskov said.

"We need to have multilateral understanding, multilateral coordination. Therefore, we should be a little patient under the current circumstances," he said.