National Security Advisor Ajit Doval called for decisive action against terrorism and said there cannot be “double standards” in the fight against it, while addressing an international security forum in Russia on Thursday, according to the Indian Embassy in Moscow. 

Doval participated in the first International Security Forum and the 14th Meeting of High Representatives for Security Matters in Moscow.

“The meeting was hosted by Mr. Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation,” the embassy said in a post on X, adding that the forum deliberated on the “Challenges and Threats to International Security in the context of the Emergence of the Multipolar World”.

“(The) NSA stated that there cannot be double standards in the fight against terrorism. Responsible nations have to evaluate their choices and decide whether they support sponsors of terrorism or counter them with decisive action,” the embassy said.

Doval also “highlighted the urgent need for reforms in the structures and institutions set up after the end of the Second World War in 1945 to make them effective in dealing with contemporary international security threats”.

“The reforms must give greater representation to and factor in the views of the Global South,” it said. Referring to the situation in West Asia, Doval was quoted as saying it was essential to ensure “the safe and uninterrupted movement of trade through international waterways including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea”.

On the sidelines of the forum, Doval held a meeting with his Russian counterpart Shoigu, the Indian Embassy said in another post. “During the meeting, the parties reviewed the current state of cooperation in the areas of defence, security, energy, and trade-economic ties,” it said.

The two officials also exchanged views on preparations for the upcoming meeting of BRICS national security advisers to be held in New Delhi, the mission said. The specific dates for the BRICS national security advisers’ meeting have not yet been officially announced.

Doval’s visit to Russia comes amid a fragile geopolitical situation marked by continuing conflict in West Asia, concerns over maritime security in key global trade routes, and sharpening competition among major powers over the emerging multipolar world order.

The Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blocked for three months now, because of the conflict, and the Red Sea are among the world’s most critical shipping corridors. They carry a substantial share of global energy supplies and commercial trade. Any disruption in these waterways has implications for energy prices, supply chains and economic stability across Asia and beyond.

The visit also comes as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to weigh on global security and economic stability, with Moscow’s ties with the West remaining strained more than four years after the war began.

The conflict has reshaped geopolitical alignments, disrupted energy and food supply chains, and intensified debates over the future global security architecture.

On Wednesday, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Cyprus and discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, battlefield developments and efforts to achieve a “comprehensive and lasting peace”.

“As Europe steps up its responsibility, we would welcome India’s strong voice and input,” Sybiha said in a social media post after the meeting. India has consistently called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the Ukraine conflict while maintaining close relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

Washington, May 29: US President Donald Trump said Friday he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisors as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire.
Trump confirmed the high-level White House talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that US and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement.

The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.
US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the sides continued to debate “a couple of language points” and he couldn’t say whether Trump would approve the proposal.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad BagherQalibaf said Friday on X that his country has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, and “no step will be taken before the other side acts.”

“We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles. In negotiations, we only make them understand that,” wrote Qalibaf, who was involved in negotiations in Qatar this week. He added: “The winner of any agreement is the one who is better prepared for war the day after it is signed.”
According to a US official familiar with the matter, the tentative agreement would continue the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Among the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day ceasefire would be what will happen to Iran’s highly enriched uranium, said the official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms of uranium that is enriched up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Vance said Thursday evening that the sides were going back and forth on “a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment.” The vice president suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on the uranium issue in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Though Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that one of their prime objectives was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, Vance framed the war’s accomplishments as something far less definitive.
“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear programme, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said. “That’s a very very good thing for the American people.”

Iran, which has long maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful, has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It is believed to be buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by US airstrikes last year.
Nuclear analysts have said that Iran might consider China or Russia, which have close relations with Tehran, to be a potential acceptable third party to take possession of the enriched uranium. But Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be comfortable” with such a plan.
The proposed memorandum makes clear that Iran will not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran will have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the war, Iran has effectively closed the strait, which had been the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. Its closure has sent oil prices skyrocketing around the world.
Iran has said it’s letting some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war. But the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships and established a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of US sanctions this week.
Under the tentative agreement, the US would gradually lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Yet even as word of the potential deal emerged, the US Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military’s oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic.
Iran has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre. At least 14 people were killed across the country’s south.

Since the ceasefire began about seven weeks ago, the US and Iran have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations. But they have not returned to full-scale hostilities and have kept negotiating.