Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that "the United States is at the forefront of countries intervening in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" and noted that "the more this intervention increases, the greater the likelihood of the conflict escalating." He added that "regarding U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's expectations about the involvement of third parties in the conflict, the United States is already among the leaders of those intervening." Lavrov pointed out that "this includes sending two groups of aircraft carriers to the conflict zone and several thousand combat soldiers, along with all necessary weapons, including heavy weapons." He mentioned that "immediate necessary steps are to arrange a ceasefire, address humanitarian issues, and establish a mechanism to work towards peace based on the 'two-state solution' to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Lavrov held talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran. The ministry released photos of the meeting but did not specify the topics discussed. Sergey Lavrov arrived in Tehran on Monday, where he will participate in a "3+3" meeting regarding the South Caucasus. Meetings of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, and Turkey are scheduled within this framework, while Georgia has declined to attend, with a spokesperson for its foreign ministry stating on Sunday that "Georgia has never participated in this format and will not participate on October 23 either." It is noted that the idea of creating a cooperation platform among six countries in the region—Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Georgia, and Armenia (referred to as the "six-platform" or "3 + 3" format)—originated from Turkey right after the end of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020.
