U.S. President Donald Trump has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate discussions with Iran on its nuclear program and regional proxy forces, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources in Moscow familiar with the matter.
Trump reportedly raised the idea of Moscow mediating talks during a Feb. 12 phone call with Putin. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later discussed Washington’s interest in Russia playing a role in diplomacy with Tehran during their Feb. 18 meeting in Saudi Arabia, the report said.
Lavrov traveled to Tehran a week after the U.S.-Russia talks. According to Bloomberg, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Lavrov had briefed him on the discussions with Washington.
“The United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying. “[Moscow] is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”
Since taking office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” policy on Iran, tightening sanctions on the Islamic Republic while simultaneously calling for renewed negotiations.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected talks with the U.S., a stance that Iran’s moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian has pledged to uphold.
Russia and Iran have deepened their cooperation amid Western sanctions — Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and Tehran over its nuclear program. Russia has deployed Iranian drones in Ukraine and has expanded military ties with Iran.
It remains unclear how receptive Iran would be to any U.S. overture delivered via Russia, Bloomberg noted.
The report came hours after Reuters, citing travel records, reported that seven Russian missile specialists with senior military backgrounds visited Iran between April and September 2024 for undisclosed reasons.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes despite concerns in the West that it might be looking to develop nuclear weapons.
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