Russia offers to mediate between Iran, US over nuclear program

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reportedly conveyed to Iran an American offer to reopen talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme, Kuwait’s Al-Jarida newspaper reported yesterday.

The paper quoted sources as saying that Lavrov had in recent days met with his US counterpart Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia, and then visited Tehran where he conveyed to officials there the US administration’s conditions for reopening talks.

These same conditions were recently conveyed by US presidential advisors to the former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during informal meetings in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which included imposing strict restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programme, the paper said.

The new American offer includes conducting gradual negotiations starting with talks at the expert level, and if these talks yield tangible progress, negotiations will move to the level of foreign ministers, in preparation for signing a direct agreement between President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian.

According to the sources, Lavrov told his Iranian counterpart that Moscow believes negotiations with Washington will be more effective than relying on the European Troika, noting that France, Germany and Britain have failed to pressure the US to revive the nuclear agreement, and that it is better for Tehran to deal directly with the White House to ensure tangible results.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said while his country would consider the new offer, it cannot negotiate under pressure.

Araghchi stressed that Tehran stipulates three conditions to ensure the seriousness of any talks, including not imposing any preconditions before the start of the talks, suspending American sanctions imposed on Iran during the talks and stopping the ongoing Israeli threats to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

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