Putin conveys Iran's position to Trump as US diesel futures fall about 5%
Key Facts
Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed Tehran's position on a possible settlement of the conflict to US President Donald Trump in a call that also addressed the Ukrainian crisis, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov said Putin conveyed "the Iranian side's view on a possible settlement of the conflict." He added that the view was conveyed to the US president in coordination with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. According to a statement by Putin carried by Interfax, the telephone call with Trump took place on October 9. The statement said prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis received considerable attention during the presidents' conversation, with the announcement of Russian diesel supplies linked to their talks, according to the Spanish news agency.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 135, authorizing transactions related to the sale of Russian-origin diesel fuel. The authorized transactions extend to the delivery, offloading and import of the fuel, according to the title of the license published by the department as part of its Russia-related actions. The license explicitly includes imports of Russian diesel into the United States among the permitted transactions. In another US measure concerning diesel, an executive order directed the Treasury Department to use its authority to defer certain obligations to pay taxes on the fuel. The directive included relief from penalties to the extent permitted by law, according to the text of the order published in the Federal Register.
The supply arrangements come as International Energy Agency estimates showed a year-on-year decline in global refinery activity. The agency said in its September Oil Market Report that global refinery throughput in August was 4.2 million barrels per day below its level a year earlier. The comparison concerns refinery activity in August 2026 against the same month in 2025. In the United States, the average diesel price was $6.28 per gallon on the Thursday before the Russian supply deal was announced, according to the American Automobile Association. Reuters reported that average US fuel price ahead of Friday's session, when the deal was announced and diesel futures fell.
In Friday trading, US diesel futures fell about 5% after the Russian supply deal was announced, according to Reuters. The agency linked the move in the fuel's futures to news of the deal under which Trump announced Russian supplies to the US and global markets. In the crude oil market, Brent futures closed Friday's session at $104.72 per barrel, according to Reuters. The crude futures settled up 44 cents on the day. That represented a gain of 0.42% during the session, with Brent's settlement price rising as US diesel futures fell following the announcement of the Russian fuel supply deal.
Trump linked the delivery of an additional 3.000.000 tonnes of Russian diesel to the condition of Russian refineries, according to his remarks reported by the Spanish news agency. He said Russia would deliver the volume later "within a short period," depending on the condition of its diesel refineries. On the diplomatic front, Peskov said Putin held two meetings with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a summit in Turkmenistan before his call with Trump. The Kremlin had said in January, following a call between Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Russia was ready to continue mediation efforts, according to Reuters. It said at the time that Moscow was also ready to "encourage constructive dialogue involving all countries concerned," a position that preceded the transmission of Tehran's view to the US president.
Regarding the schedule for upcoming supplies, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak estimated volumes at about 300.000 tonnes of diesel in October, according to the Spanish news agency. He added that estimated supplies for November stood at 500.000 tonnes. Estimated volumes for December reach one million tonnes, according to Novak. On US authorization for transactions, the Treasury Department set the license's expiry at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 7, 2027. In a broader oil supply forecast issued before the presidents' call, the International Energy Agency said in its September report that a full recovery in supplies from Middle Eastern producers would be delayed until 2027.