Russia is ready to mediate talks between the United States and Iran, including on Tehran’s nuclear program and its regional network of proxy troops, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskow in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump expressed interest in talks with Iran on these topics during his phone call with Vladimir Putin in February and at the high-level Russian-US meeting in Riyadh a few days later, according to the portal, citing anonymous government officials.
“Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all their problems through negotiations” Peskow said when asked about such contacts.
Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this” he added.
US President Trump returned to his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran last month, just weeks after Moscow and Tehran signed a landmark agreement on strategic partnership. Trump declared in a presidential decree that Washington would escalate sanctions against Iran, aiming to disrupt its nuclear program, the use of conventional rockets and the network of regional proxy groups.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the country is strengthening its defense and referred to regular threats from the US-backed Israel.
“The Foreign Minister of the Israeli regime and other government officials continue to threaten Iran with military actions, while the West continues to accuse Iran of lacking defense capabilities. This is deplorable and irrational” said Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, last week. In the face of Israel’s “addiction to aggression and lawless behavior” it is “responsible and essential to maximize our defense capabilities” he emphasized.
The day before, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that a “military option” might be on the table to prevent a possible military use of Tehran’s nuclear program.
Israel and the West have long seen Iran’s activities on uranium enrichment as a secret attempt to develop nuclear weapons – allegations that Tehran has repeatedly denied.
As Trump announced stiffer sanctions, he also signaled interest in signing a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Tehran.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emphasized that talks with the United States would likely bear no fruit and referred to the previous agreement on nuclear technology, which Trump unilaterally canceled during his first presidency.