Pepe Escobar, Zulfiqar Ali: Putin’s 97-Minute Call; Iran’s “No” &Two Strike Routes “Locked”; CAN TRUMP STILL STRIKE?

by Transition Protocol [11-4-2026] Pepe Escobar(bio).

Pepe Escobar says Vladimir Putin phoned Iran’s No. 2, Mohsen Rezaei, directly and spoke with him for 97 minutes; China and Pakistan called afterwards. Host Zulfiqar Ali, citing a person in the room, says Rezaei then formally rejected the US offer and came back to Iran’s seven points. Ali also says two strike routes are “completely locked.” Neither the Kremlin nor Tehran has confirmed the call or the rejection.

• 06:12 The call: Putin phones Iran’s No. 2, per Pepe Escobar.
• 06:56 Why Escobar calls it “mind-blowing”: Putin’s calls “never last more than half an hour”.
• 08:31 China and Pakistan call afterwards.
• 23:42 The answer: Rezaei “rejected the U.S. offer formally… came back to the 7 points”, per our host.
• 28:04 “You signed it as well” — Ali on Iran’s position.
• 30:51 Can Trump still strike? Ali: two routes “completely locked”.

What you’ll learn: who called Iran’s No. 2 and for how long; what Iran said back to Washington; why China and Pakistan phoned afterwards; what Ali says about two strike routes; who has to make the next move; what is being organized for APEC Shenzhen on 18 November.

Sourcing note: The call and the rejection come from a person in the room, as described by Pepe Escobar and by our host, and cannot be independently verified. Escobar says on the recording: “We don’t have the details of what they discussed.” The text of the 7 points is not in this recording.

Public record: Rezaei said on 19 September that Iran had conveyed seven conditions through Qatar; the Wall Street Journal reported on 28 October that US Vice President JD Vance had sent a letter to Rezaei, and Tasnim reported on 29 October that Iran had “received the letter but has not yet responded”. APEC meets in Shenzhen on 18–19 November, and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on 1 September that a Putin–Trump–Xi meeting “is being considered”. The Gulf monarchies’ position is the host’s source’s account; the GCC asked Russia on 18 October to press Iran. Where Pepe Escobar uses political epithets, they are his.