Russia agreed to assist U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration in communicating with Iran on issues including the Islamic Republic鈥檚 nuclear program and its support for regional anti-U.S. proxies, according to people familiar with the situation.
Trump relayed that interest directly to President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in February and top officials from his administration discussed the matter with their Russian counterparts at talks in Saudi Arabia days later, people said, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
A White House official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said Russia offered to do the outreach without being asked to play that role. Discussions are in their initial stages and it鈥檚 not clear whether any talks between the U.S. and Iran would yield any progress.
鈥淧resident Trump made clear by renewing his 鈥楳aximum Pressure鈥� order just days into his second term, the United States will not tolerate Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon or their support of terror in the Middle East and around the world,鈥� White House spokesman Brian Hughes said. 鈥淭he Trump Administration will talk to our adversaries and allies alike, but he will always do so from a position of strength to defend our national security.鈥�
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to questions sent by Bloomberg that 鈥淩ussia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations鈥� and that Moscow 鈥渋s ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.鈥�
A spokesman for Iran鈥檚 foreign ministry, when asked if Russia had offered to mediate between Tehran and Washington, said it was 鈥渘atural鈥� for countries to offer their assistance.
鈥淕iven the significance of these matters, it鈥檚 possible that many parties will show goodwill and readiness to help with various problems,鈥� the spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said during a televised press conference Monday in Tehran. The ministry didn鈥檛 respond to questions from Bloomberg News.
Since taking office about six weeks ago, Trump has tried to restore relations with Putin, which the U.S. severed after Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As Trump seeks to broker an end to that war directly with Putin 鈥� including a Feb. 12 phone call between the two leaders 鈥� both sides have signaled they鈥檙e open to cooperating on other geopolitical interests, including trade routes and resources in the Arctic.
Top U.S. and Russian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussed Washington鈥檚 interest in Moscow helping with Iranian issues during a Feb. 18 meeting in Riyadh, according to people with knowledge of the situation, asking not to be identified as not all details of those talks have been made public.
Russia鈥檚 Lavrov later shared details about the U.S. meeting with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi when they met in Tehran, Araghchi said in a televised press conference after the meeting.
On Tuesday, Russia鈥檚 Interfax news agency cited Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying Russia and the U.S. discussed Iran during the Riyadh meeting and agreed to separate discussions on the matter. Ushakov said there had been no further signals from the U.S., according to Interfax.
The U.S. has long suspected the Islamic Republic of using a decades-old civilian nuclear program to shield a covert military dimension. Iran has repeatedly denied it wants weapons and insists its atomic work is for peaceful means including power stations that are partly financed by Russia.
Iran and the U.S. agreed a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 during the administration of President Barak Obama. Brokered by the E.U. and also involving China and Russia, it imposed strict limits on Iran鈥檚 atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump abandoned it during his first term, setting off an economic crisis in the Islamic Republic.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has sent mixed signals about Iran. He said he wants to revive his first-term 鈥渕aximum pressure鈥� policy of tough sanctions that also targeted Iranian security forces, including killing a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But he鈥檚 also said he wants to 鈥渋mmediately鈥� start working on a 鈥渧erified nuclear peace agreement with Iran.鈥�
Russia and Iran 鈥� both heavily sanctioned by the U.S. 鈥� have also significantly deepened cooperation on trade and energy since the start of Moscow鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine. Iran is also supplying drones to Russia, which it鈥檚 used in the war.
鈥淏oth the United States and Iran are trying to find channels of communication, productive ones which would mark the start of a dialogue,鈥� said Nikolay Kozhanov, an associate professor at Qatar University鈥檚 Gulf Studies Center.
Any agreement between the U.S. and Iran would be a 鈥渃omplex鈥� one with the U.S. offering sanctions relief and Iran agreeing to contain its regional ambitions, Kozhanov added.
Complicating matters further is the fact that Iran is locked in a bitter shadow war with top U.S. ally Israel. Tehran has vowed to keep fighting despite Israel having severely weakened key proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups are designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. and other countries.
'Transactional deals'
Iran鈥檚 response to Russian mediation will ultimately depend on top decision-maker Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Last month he said Tehran won鈥檛 be strong-armed to the negotiating table and said Trump was untrustworthy and dangerous because he jettisoned the Obama-era nuclear deal and continues to sanction Iran.
Furthermore, suspicion toward Russia 鈥� based on a troubled history 鈥� still looms large for many Iranian officials and allies of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian are likely to question Moscow鈥檚 motives and whether they鈥檙e aligned with Iran鈥檚 interests.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see them being viewed by Tehran as the most helpful mediator, especially as Russia and the U.S. may be involved in lots of transactional deals and Iran may be afraid that it鈥檒l be sold out in the process,鈥� said Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Khamenei also appeared to weigh in on last week鈥檚 public spat between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. A day after the confrontation, he wrote on X that Ukraine鈥檚 reliance on U.S. support was a warning shot: like Afghanistan, Kyiv now finds itself abandoned by the country it depends on the most.
Still, there鈥檚 a growing chorus of voices who want to see Washington and Tehran work out their differences. Iran has been steadily ramping up uranium enrichment, way beyond limits set by the defunct 2015 pact that Trump abrogated.
The United Nation鈥檚 nuclear watchdog on Monday said the U.S. and Iran should begin talks, and that it was holding high-level discussions with the White House on the issue. That follows its warning last week that Tehran鈥檚 stockpile of near-bomb-grade fissile material had surged more than 50% since Trump鈥檚 election.
At the same time, Iranian officials are under intense pressure to deliver economic relief to a population exhausted by an acute cost-of-living crisis that鈥檚 been compounded by U.S. sanctions under both Trump and President Joe Biden鈥檚 administration.