MOSCOW — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the Middle East can settle its own conflicts without the United States, in Kremlin talks held after Russia spent the day hosting the leaders of the world's main gas exporting states.

"I believe we are capable of resolving our problems in the region without relying on the United States," Pezeshkian said at the Kremlin, in remarks reported by the AFP news agency.

The dismissal of American-led diplomacy was delivered in a capital that is offering itself as an alternative broker. Putin received Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Kremlin Palace the same day, putting the leaders of three of the world's largest gas producers in one building while the Strait of Hormuz, the main sea route out of the Gulf, stays blocked.

Putin said the two men had discussed a regional situation that "cannot help but cause concern," and said he hoped it would "evolve in a positive direction." The Russian news agency TASS reported that he told Pezeshkian Moscow was ready to help resolve the crisis around Iran, and that trade between the two countries rose 21 percent in 2025. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilyov, Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller were among the Russian officials at the table, the agency said.

Pezeshkian said American conduct in the region was pushing Iran towards greater multilateralism and closer work with other states under US sanctions. He said both governments wanted to widen cooperation in science, industry, culture, security and military affairs. It was his second meeting with Putin this month, after the two saw each other at a summit of former Soviet states in Turkmenistan in early October.

The Iranian president met Sheikh Tamim separately on the margins of the forum. The emir's office said they reviewed the latest on the negotiations, the Strait of Hormuz and energy supplies, the AFP news agency reported from Doha. Iranian state television gave a narrower account, saying the two reviewed relations between Tehran and Doha and agreed to deepen political and economic ties.

Qatar has become one of the main channels between Iran and the United States, and its language in Moscow was harder than Tehran's. Ibrahim al-Hashmi, director of media and communication at the Qatari foreign ministry, said the region needs a new security framework and called the present condition of neither war nor peace unacceptable. He said Iran must demonstrate good faith, stop threatening its neighbours and reopen the strait, which he described as an absolute priority. Doha is working with partners including China to revive talks, he said.

The emir's own meeting with Putin at the Kremlin Palace covered developments in the Middle East, energy supply chains, the strait and Qatari investments in Russia, Qatar Tribune reported. Putin told him that stability in the gas market depends on effective coordination between Russia and Qatar. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attended, as did Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Tehran has since struck targets in countries allied to Washington, Qatar among them, and talks between Iranian and American officials have been stalled for months while both the United States and Israel warn that strikes could resume.

Mediation has quickened in the past week. A Qatari delegation went to Tehran on Sunday. On Monday, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkey's intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin held talks in Tehran, which Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei called very good. No agreement was announced afterwards. Lavrov visited Tehran on October 19, his first trip there since the fighting started, and said Russia was working to stop the war restarting on a large scale.

At the summit itself, Putin told the gas producers that the disruption of supplies was the main problem facing them. "Large volumes of supply have been removed from the market in a short period, with demand remaining unchanged," he said, according to TASS. He urged members to optimise transport routes with reciprocal operations among themselves, taking account of where each sits on the map, and said liquefied natural gas now makes up about half of global gas trade.

He also warned that attempts to exclude Russia from the global gas market carry serious consequences, above all higher costs for foreign consumers. Russia's share of European Union gas imports fell from 45 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2025. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia had supplied $320.7 billion of energy to the bloc since 2022, including $21.3 billion in the first nine months of this year.

The European Union plans to end its remaining imports of Russian gas by the autumn of next year.