Putin Offers Iran Mediation at First-Ever CIS Summit Appearance by Iranian President

At a summit in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, in early October, Iranian President Massud Peseschkian attended a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — the first time an Iranian president had been invited to the gathering of former Soviet republics. Iran has never been a CIS member. Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart that Peseschkian was making "real attempts to end the conflict," which Putin said "did not arise through your fault," and offered to do "everything that depends on us" to assist. The Iran war directly affects the Central Asian CIS states, damaging their trade and fueling fears of war and demand for negotiations. The Kremlin's mediation bid requires a neighbor of Iran — the same republic whose passenger plane Russia accidentally shot down in 2024 — and the country of roughly ten million people no longer follows Moscow's word.