TASS reported U.S. special envoy for the Middle East Witkoff and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner have stepped up mediation efforts in Ukraine.

Iranian lawmakers sent a joint letter to state authorities criticizing persistent volatility in the foreign-exchange, gold and bullion markets and urging the Central Bank of Iran and monetary policymakers to provide clearer, more transparent guidance and a market-management plan. They warned rising exchange rates are transmitting rapidly into producer and consumer prices — from raw materials and equipment to medicines, staples, transport, rents and household spending — and said public purchases of gold and foreign currency reflect a loss of confidence in the rial, not only war-related shocks, speculation or market sentiment. Citing their statutory oversight role, MPs said the central bank must protect the currency, control inflation and stabilise money and FX markets, and argued domestic factors — rapid liquidity expansion, banking-sector imbalances, fiscal looseness and an unclear exchange-rate policy — are key drivers of the recent instability.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman urged Japan to return to a pacifist policy and said Russia's sovereignty over the Southern Kurils is indisputable.