RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

Moscow, May 22, 2026. From Stockholm, where a meeting of NATO foreign ministers was held, Marco Rubio crossed a rhetorical threshold by publicly evoking the hypothesis of a Western military mission in the Strait of Ormuz. "We must begin to think about what we would do if, in a few weeks, Iran decided to keep the strait closed," said the US Secretary of State to journalists present. He specified that he had raised this point with his NATO counterparts and that it would not necessarily be a mission of the Alliance itself, but a coalition of member countries. A "plan B," in his own words.

TASS documents this American verbal escalation meticulously while highlighting the diplomatic density that is being played out simultaneously in Tehran. Marshal Asim Munir, chief of staff of the Pakistani army, arrived in the Iranian capital as part of a mediation mission between Tehran and Washington. The visit is part of a crowded schedule: Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was already on a three-day visit to Tehran and had met several Iranian officials before the general's arrival. The IRNA agency specified that Munir's visit "does not mean that an agreement has been reached on preliminary terms".

Meanwhile, a Qatari delegation has joined Tehran with American approval to contribute to a possible ceasefire agreement — a notable break, as Doha had until then abstained from playing a mediation role in this conflict, after being the target of strikes on its territory. The delegation held direct consultations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Despite this diplomatic effervescence, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei tempered any optimism. "We cannot say with certainty that we have reached the stage where an agreement is near," he said, specifying that "the main object of the negotiations remains the end of the war". On the multiplication of foreign visits to Tehran, he qualified it as "a continuation of the diplomatic process," without seeing it as a decisive signal. He also confirmed that Pakistan remains the main mediator in talks with Washington, with Qatar playing a complementary consultative role.

The picture that TASS paints is therefore that of an active regional diplomacy — Pakistan in the lead, Qatar in support — facing an America that simultaneously wields the carrot of negotiations and the stick of a naval intervention.