'No Expectations From Shoigu,' U.S. Says As It Urges Countries to ‘Pass Messages’ To Iran Against Escalation

The United States said on Monday it has been urging countries through its diplomatic engagements to tell Iran that escalation in the Middle East is not in their interest. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as other senior officials, have spent their weekend carrying out a full-court, diplomatic press on allies and partners in the Middle East to limit escalation in the likely attack by Iran and its proxies against Israel, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

In the meantime, Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's security council, happened to arrive in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders and top security officials as they weighed its response to the killing of a Hamas leader.

"We don’t have any expectations that Russia’s going to play a productive role in de-escalating tensions," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told Monday briefing when responding to TURAN's questions. "We haven’t seen them play a productive role in this conflict since October 7th.  They have for the most part been absent, and certainly we’ve seen them do nothing to urge any party to take de-escalatory steps."

The U.S. does not know why Shoigu's trip is taking place now, Miller added, but one possibility might be to further Moscow's relationship with Tehran as Russia is "going around tin-cupping, looking for support for its illegal invasion of Ukraine," as he put it.

"I don’t know if that’s the purpose of this trip, but certainly we have seen that with the security relationship between Iran and Russia before," Miller said.

Though Putin has yet to comment in public on the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, the Kremlin has condemned the recent assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Shoigu was quoted as saying on Monday that Russia was "prepared" to cooperate with Iran on "regional affairs."

Speaking at the State Department alongside the Australian Foreign Minister Monday afternoon, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the situation in the Middle East "a critical moment." 

"We are engaged in intense diplomacy pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message: All parties must refrain from escalation," he said.

"All parties must take steps to ease tensions.  Escalation is not in anyone’s interests.  It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity,"  he added.

Blinken went on to emphasize that "it’s also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza. That in turn will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself but in other areas where the conflict could spread."

He concluded:  "So for the United States, for many other countries – both in the region and beyond – this is our focus. And what it comes down to, really, is all parties finding ways to come to an agreement, not look for reasons to delay or to say no.  It is urgent that all parties make the right choices in the hours and days ahead."