Russia has agreed to broker talks between the US and Iran amid heightening tensions between Washington and Tehran as the Trump administration has been increasing sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The report said President Trump discussed the idea during his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, and it was discussed further when US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia days later.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm that Russia was willing to broker talks in comments to Bloomberg. He said 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 White House official said the discussions were in their early stages and that it was unclear if US-Iran talks would yield any progress. Iranian officials have ruled out the idea of direct talks with the US after President Trump re-imposed his so-called “maximum pressure campaign” on the Islamic Republic and began increasing sanctions.
Trump has said he wants a deal on Iran’s nuclear program and has even acknowledged that Iranian leadership doesn’t want a nuclear bomb. William Burns, the head of the CIA under President Biden, also acknowledged in January that there’s no evidence Tehran has decided to build a nuclear weapon.
Trump has also threatened Iran, saying a deal would be preferable to “bombing” the country, suggesting he will consider military action if an agreement is reached. Israel, which has nuclear weapons the US doesn’t recognize, is reportedly looking to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities and wants support from the US.
