Putin held a flurry of phone calls yesterday with four Arab Gulf state leaders, offering to use Moscow’s ties to Tehran – with which it has a strategic partnership – to try and defuse tensions in the region.

“Putin will certainly make every effort to contribute to at least a slight easing of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today.

“Yesterday’s discussions with virtually all of his interlocutors focused on Putin conveying his deep concern about the strikes on their infrastructure to our colleagues in Iran, taking advantage of the dialogue we maintain with the Iranian leadership,” Peskov said.

Oil prices rose today for a third day as Iran responded to US and Israeli attacks with strikes against energy infrastructure in Gulf countries and against tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Putin offered his condolences to the family of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a note to President Masoud Pezeshkian over the weekend, but the Kremlin has not publicised any further contact with senior Iranian leadership since the strikes began on Saturday.

Putin has also not spoken with US President Donald Trump, and Peskov said there were no plans for such a conversation at this time.