As Trump cozies up to Putin, Russia offers to mediate US-Iran nuclear talks
Kremlin spokesperson declares that Moscow will do everything in its power to help resolve all problems between two foes via negotiations
MOSCOW — Russia has agreed to assist US President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on various issues, including on Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US proxies that largely also seek Israel’s destruction.
The news was first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg and then later confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The Bloomberg report, which was picked up by Russian state media, earlier quoted the spokesman as saying that “Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations” and that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”
A later Reuters report said Peskov confirmed Russia was ready to promote a peaceful solution to Iran’s “nuclear problem.”
The news is potentially deeply worrying for Israel, which has sought Trump’s support for a credible military threat against Iran aimed at pressuring it to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but may now be stymied by the US leader’s increasingly cozy relationship with Putin.
Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention but has since December increased by about a half its already sizable stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, according to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog last week. The enrichment rate is far beyond what is necessary for a civilian nuclear program and a short step away from developing nuclear warheads.
Russia and Iran have expanded military ties in recent years, with a report Tuesday showing that Russian officials had visited Iranian missile production and air defense sites twice last year, both times within weeks of Tehran launching massive missile barrages at Israeli cities. In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in Moscow where they signed a 20-year strategic partnership.
Moscow also hosted officials from the Hamas terror group following the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel and has expressed support for Iran’s Hezbollah proxy, forcefully condemning Israel for killing terror leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon in September. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year offered to mediate an end to the war in the Gaza between Israel and Hamas triggered by the Palestinian terror group’s attack.
Russia has further deepened its ties with the Islamic Republic since the start of the Ukraine war, and signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Iran in January. Though the previous Biden administration backed Ukraine, supplying it with weapons, Trump on Monday suspended military aid days after a stunning public clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump in the White House where the US president berated the visitor, accusing him of being a warmonger.
Trump’s stance has upended US support for Ukraine, and Washington’s allies more broadly, and stoked concern about the United States pivoting to Russia.
Israel and Iran clashed twice over the past year in spillover from the war in the Gaza Strip. The day after the Hamas October 7, 2023, assault, which killed 1,200 people, Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing across the northern border, forcing the evacuation of some 60,000 people from northern Israel.
Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel in April 2024, firing some 300 attack drones and missiles in response to the killing of several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members in an airstrike near Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
Months later, in October, Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killings of Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively.
In both instances, the Iranian assaults were largely thwarted by Israel’s air defenses in cooperation with the US and its regional allies. Israel twice bombed Iran in response, the second time destroying much of its air defense systems as well as some rocket and drone manufacturing sites.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah all avowedly seek the destruction of Israel.
By September 2024, the fighting with Hezbollah escalated into open war during which Israel decimated the group’s leadership and fighting abilities. A ceasefire was reached at the end of November.
A complex, three-phase ceasefire with Hamas was reached in January, though its future is in doubt as only the first stage was completed before the process of negotiating the latter stages ground to halt amid mutual accusations of violations.
The Times of Israel Community.