First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran's top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday, November 5, 2026, in a meeting in which Rezaei delivered a message from Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. The Kremlin confirmed the meeting, and a photograph released by the Kremlin showed two senior Russian officials at the table alongside Putin: Yuri Ushakov, the president's foreign policy aide, and Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russian military intelligence.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, Rezaei said the two sides had discussed building gas pipelines from Russia to Iran. He said the project would help Iran deal with its gas shortages and would let Iran sell Russian gas on to other countries in the region. "An agreement was reached on building gas pipelines from Russia to Iran so that Iran can both overcome its gas shortages and sell Russian gas to neighboring countries," Rezaei said, according to Press TV. The meeting also covered the International North-South Transport Corridor and plans to develop Iran into a regional gas hub.
Rezaei said the talks also covered important regional issues and significant conversations about the post-war period and regional security arrangements, referring to the war between Iran and the United States. According to Ynet, Rezaei said Putin had declared he would do everything in his power to bring the war to an end. No Kremlin readout of the talks has been reported, and the contents of Khamenei's message have not been disclosed.
The meeting came as efforts to end the war remained stalled. Iran has presented seven conditions to the United States, and Rezaei reiterated that Tehran will neither reopen the Strait of Hormuz nor resume negotiations unless those conditions are met. Peace efforts have focused on the future of the strategic strait, a United States blockade on Iranian ports, sanctions on Iran and a resumption of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The pipeline idea is not new. A gas pipeline from Russia to Iran was first proposed in late September 2024, and in January 2025 Putin said Russian gas supplies to Iran under the project could eventually reach 55 billion cubic metres a year, starting at up to 2 billion cubic metres. Russia's energy minister said at the time that a pipeline would pass through Azerbaijan.