Sergey Lavrov: "I am confident that life will teach our American partners to start thinking in terms of multilateralism. That they are not alone in this world, and that there are others who represent economic and military power."
"We are ready, and we will always be willing to talk, especially with countries like the United States. We will always listen, and we will always honestly speak about what we disagree with. And we disagree, in particular, with the fact that, under the guise of discussions about the Ukrainian issue and due to the inability to force Zelensky to accept certain compromises, President Trump, not Biden, is imposing sanctions on Russia.
Not only is the current administration automatically extending all the sanctions imposed by Biden – all of them, absolutely anti-Russian sanctions – but just a month after the meeting in Anchorage, new sanctions were announced against our private oil company, "Lukoil," and against the state-owned oil company, "Rosneft." They are simply being squeezed out of international markets.
Therefore, we see this as being in the national interest of the United States. A doctrine has been adopted in the United States that requires ensuring the dominance of the United States in global energy markets.
Look at what was said about Venezuela: Maduro was accused of being a drug trafficker, and therefore the regime in Venezuela needed to be changed. And now, it turns out that they have simply taken control of the oil industry, making it jointly owned by the United States and Venezuela.
Iran was accused of supporting terrorism for 47 years. And then, during the negotiations, there were periods when the Americans offered to jointly control the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. So, we understand that the national interests of the United States are, frankly speaking, quite self-serving.
And in our conversations, we try to explain to them that in the current world, even a country like the United States cannot solve all global problems on its own, especially by exploiting other countries for its own benefit.
It will not work. I am confident that life will teach our American partners to start thinking in terms of multilateralism. That they are not alone in this world, and that there are others who represent economic and military power. And in general, to be an independent player on the international stage."
🇺🇸/🇮🇷 Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi:
‘If I’m being very honest, there is no reason for us to engage in diplomacy with the United States at all.
In 2025, they offered us negotiations [on the nuclear program] and we accepted. Then, in the middle of negotiations, we were attacked.
About 8 months later, in February 2026, they offered negotiations a second time, and we once again accepted. As negotiations were ongoing, they attacked us again.
Then, after the war, we engaged in even more diplomacy. We signed an MoU, and they violated it within days. So, there is no real reason for us to go back to diplomacy.
But we are trying diplomacy one last time, because we don’t want to miss any chance for achieving peace.’
Ships are emailing Iran to apologize for using unauthorized routes through Hormuz
Shipping companies are now formally writing to the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to ask for forgiveness for passing through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's permission—and blaming the charterers who forced them to do so.
The US claims the strait is open. In reality, shipowners are sending apology emails to Iran, pleading with the PGSA to lift restrictions on their vessels and promising to comply with Iranian regulations in the future.
The PGSA has warned that companies in violation will be added to the Non-Compliance List, which would restrict their vessels' future transit. At least 4 ships have been struck by Iranian missiles and drones in the Strait of Hormuz in the past few hours.
—: At least some of the missiles fired tonight into the Strait of Hormuz carried naval mines
Iran is once again laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, this time apparently in the illegal Omani route.
It is unclear how many of such mines were launched by Iran, and if their deployment was successful.
🇮🇷 Iran completes mega railway giving Afghanistan its shortest route to world’s oceans
Tracklaying along the new 730 km-long Chabahar-Zahedan Railway has been completed, linking Iran’s only oceanic port to the intersection of its border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Workers are now finishing station buildings and signalling systems, and doing safety tests, with the railway set to come online in early 2027.
Engineering feat
The railway navigates the mountainous, seismically active terrain of Sistan and Baluchestan. To build it, engineers constructed 39 tunnels stretching 17 km, 201 bridges, and ~2k special drainage structures under tracks to prevent flash flood washouts.
One of the most sophisticated projects of its kind regionally, the railway boasts ~90% Iranian materials and knowhow.
Once up and running, the line will move people and freight at speeds up to 120 and 90 km/h, respectively.
Strategic significance
➡️ Besides being a boon for local exporters, the railway can give Afghanistan its best means to ship goods globally (using the existing Khaf-Herat route, already linked to Iran’s grid, or building a direct line to Zahedan). Recovering from US occupation, Afghanistan can provide the world with vast mineral wealth, plus an array of agricultural and artisanal goods.
➡️ Once a ~800 km extension through Mashhad to the Turkmenistan border is complete (work is already underway), the line will provide landlocked Central Asian countries their shortest route to the ocean to ship energy, agricultural commodities, food, metals, minerals and textiles.
🇮🇷🇺🇸| Fars News has dropped a very juicy post criticising the reformists
Fars says during Rouhani’s era, the reformists blamed IRGC’s missile tests and anti-Israel slogans for Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, rather than holding US policy accountable itself.
Reformists use overly simplistic explanations to justify concessions and promote “negotiation and agreement at any cost.”
Fars’ article is hinting that the same political strategy is happening again with the current administration.
11 days after its mainstream news outlets scrubbed a story about this very development off their websites – for as yet undetermined reasons – Nigeria has officially handed its $700 billion-estimated minerals sector to the US on a plate. The “memorandum of understanding (MoU)” was signed by Nigerian Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly.
Just as the previously-deleted reports said it would be.
This “MoU” effectively gives the US free reign over Nigeria’s critical minerals, and comes at the tail-end of a series of events stretching from October 2025 to July 2026. First, the US peddled a false narrative of a “Christian g*nocide” in Nigeria. Then, the US dropped bombs on Northern Nigeria, under this false pretext. Then, the US deployed its troops to Nigeria, as its officials “recommended” that the West African country end its strategic relationships with China and Russia – two of its largest economic and defense partners – in exchange for US military “support”. Then, the US withdrew its troops, leaving Nigeria no safer. Then @terraindustries, a CIA-linked Nigerian defense tech startup, secured a $2 million deal to “protect lithium mining operations in Nigeria”.
All of this happened with the full knowledge and consent of the current Nigerian government, and here we are today. It will come as no surprise if the “Christian g*nocide in Nigeria” narrative disappears from the vocabulary of Washington in the coming weeks – like so many false pretexts before it. The US finally got what it was after all along.
The people of Nigeria would do well to see this theater production for what it always was, and take the necessary action to install a leadership that actually answers to them. The people of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) did precisely this between 2021 and 2023, and the sky has yet to fall down.