| (AFP) - Iran`s top diplomat blamed Washington Monday for the failure of Middle East peace talks during a visit to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin promised him Moscow`s support in ending the war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Saint Petersburg on a whirlwind diplomatic tour, having sandwiched a trip to Oman in between two visits to Pakistan, the main mediator in the Mideast war.
Islamabad hosted a first, unsuccessful round of US-Iran talks, and Araghchi`s visit raised hopes for more negotiations over the weekend -- until US President Donald Trump scrapped a planned trip by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
"The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands," Araghchi said Monday.
Trump told Fox News if Iran wanted talks, "they can call us" -- adding the cancellation does not signal a return to hostilities.
Iran`s envoy to the UN said Tehran would first need guarantees Washington and Israel would not attack again if it was to offer security assurances in the Gulf.
"Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the wider region can only be achieved through a durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran, supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence," Amir Saeid Iravani told a UN Security Council session.
Meanwhile in Saint Petersburg, Putin and Araghchi both voiced their commitment to their countries` "strategic relationship" following their meeting.
Araghchi said the war with the United States and Israel showed "Iran`s true power" and stability.
But back home in Tehran, the mood was more sober.
"Everything in the country is up in the air right now. I have not worked for a long time," small business owner Farshad told Paris-based AFP journalists.
"The country is in complete economic collapse."
- Hormuz proposal -
Highlighting back-channel diplomacy, the Fars news agency said Iran passed "written messages" to Washington via Pakistan spelling out its red lines in negotiations -- including nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump met with his top security advisers Monday to discuss an Iranian proposal that would reportedly reopen the vital strait as broader negotiations over the war continue, the White House said.
When asked about the reported plan, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a White House briefing the proposal was "being discussed".
Though the US-Iranian ceasefire holds, the war`s economic shock waves continue to reverberate.
Tehran resident Shervin, a photographer, said he was feeling the pinch.
"It is the first time that I have reached a point where I was late on my rent. I still don`t have any projects," said Shervin, 42.
Iran has blockaded Hormuz, cutting off flows of oil, gas and fertiliser and sending prices soaring.
In response, the United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump faces domestic pressure to find an off-ramp as fuel prices rise, with midterm elections due in November and polls showing the war is unpopular among Americans.
Iran`s Revolutionary Guards say they have no intention of easing their market-rattling chokehold of the strategic waterway.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran`s parliament, said a proposed law for managing the strait would make the Islamic republic`s armed forces the overseeing authority, with levies to be paid in Iranian rial.
The head of the UN`s maritime agency, Arsenio Dominguez, said there was "no legal basis" for imposing transit fees.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rejected the idea.
"They cannot normalise -- nor can we tolerate them trying to normalise -- a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway, and how much you have to pay them to use it," he told Fox News Channel`s "America`s Newsroom".
- `Playing with fire` -
Violence has continued on the war`s Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, with Beirut`s health ministry reporting Israel killed four people in the south.
Fifty-one others were wounded, including three children, the ministry added.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel, which responded with strikes and a ground invasion.
The group`s leader Naim Qassem on Monday rejected planned direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel as a "grave sin", vowing to "not back down".
Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had begun hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israel maintains that under the terms of the truce, it can act against imminent threats.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah`s rockets and drones remained a threat meriting military action.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that "Qassem is playing with fire".
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, responding to Qassem, said his "goal is to reach an end to the state of war with Israel".
But Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said 2026 was "likely to be another year of fighting" for Israel on all fronts.
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