Russian President Vladimir Putin met the head of Iran's top security body in Moscow yesterday, the Kremlin said, as Donald Trump sought to force Tehran to make a deal on its nuclear programme.
"The head of state received in the Kremlin the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Larijani, who is visiting Russia," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
Earlier yesterday, US President Trump said he believed Iran -- a close ally of Russia -- wanted to make a deal on its nuclear programme to avoid military action.
Trump also renewed his threat to launch strikes against Iran, which recently imposed a crackdown on protesters that observers said killed thousands.
Iran's Moscow embassy posted on social media that yesterday's talks between Putin and Larijani focused on economic ties and "important regional and international issues", without elaborating further.
The visit had not been previously announced, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran.
While Iran emerged as one of Russia's main allies during the war in Ukraine, Russia gives Tehran crucial international backing.
Earlier, Trump predicted that Iran would seek to negotiate a deal rather than face American military action, despite Tehran warning that its arsenal of missiles would never be up for discussion.
"I can say this, they do want to make a deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter talks on its nuclear and missile programmes, Trump said "yeah, I have", but refused to say what it was.
"We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now," Trump said, referring to a US naval carrier group in waters off Iran. "Hopefully we'll make a deal. If we do make a deal, that's good. If we don't make a deal, we'll see what happens."
Trump cited what he said was Iran's decision to halt the executions of protesters -- after a crackdown in which rights groups say more than 6,000 people were killed and which triggered the latest round of threats between the long-time foes -- as evidence to show Tehran was ready to negotiate.
The US president brought the temperature down late on Thursday, saying he hoped to avoid military action and that talks with Iran were on the cards, having pressured Tehran for a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Nevertheless, Iran's top diplomat said yesterday that his country's missile and defence capabilities would "never" be on the negotiating table.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was "ready to begin negotiations if they take place on an equal footing, based on mutual interests and mutual respect", during a visit to Turkiye, which is leading a diplomatic push to mediate between Tehran and Washington.
But, he emphasized, "I want to state firmly that Iran's defensive and missile capabilities will never be subject to negotiation", adding that no plans were in place to meet with US officials about resuming talks.
On Monday, the news site Axios reported that US officials say any deal would have to include a cap on Iran's arsenal of long-range missiles, the removal of enriched uranium from the country and a ban on independent enrichment.
Serhan Afacan, director of IRAM, the Ankara-based Centre for Iranian Studies, said that trying to link a nuclear deal with other issues would likely "be impossible".
"For now, the ballistic missile programme remains a red line, as it sits at the core of Iran's defence architecture," he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said restarting talks between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme was "vital for reducing regional tensions".
Speaking at a joint news conference in Istanbul with Araghchi, he said Israel was pushing for the United States to attack Iran, and urged Washington to "act with common sense and not allow this to happen".
Iran has blamed the United States and Israel for the protests that erupted in late December over economic grievances and peaked on January 8 and 9, accusing the two countries of fuelling a "terrorist operation" that turned peaceful demonstrations into "riots".
Araghchi was also due to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian by phone earlier yesterday that Turkiye was "ready to assume a facilitating role between Iran and the United States to de-escalate the tensions".
Pezeshkian, meanwhile, said the success of diplomacy depended on the "goodwill of the parties involved and the abandonment of belligerent and threatening actions in the region", his office said.