Russia agrees to mediate between US, Iran in renewed nuclear talks

Russia has stated its readiness to mediate between the United States and Iran in potential renewed nuclear talks, amid Washington and Moscow’s recent unofficial rapprochement.

According to a report by Bloomberg, US President Donald Trump requested his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin facilitate talks with Iran on its nuclear program and other security issues such as its regional proxies, with the American leader reportedly raising the idea in a phone call with Putin on 12 February.

The topic was then broached again when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Saudi Arabia on 18 February for direct talks on the war in Ukraine. Lavrov later travelled to Iran, where he reportedly briefed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the potential discussions with the US.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted in the report as stating that the “United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” stressing that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”

Russian-mediated talks would mark seven years after Trump scrapped the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal during his first term. Although the US president openly seeks to revive his “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran through the heavy imposition of sanctions and geopolitical threats, he has also signalled a willingness to participate in renewed negotiations toward a new nuclear deal. Iran and its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, however, have so far publicly rejected talks with Washington, but an opportunity with Russia – an ally of Tehran – as the mediator could shift that stance.

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