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Russian strongman Vladimir Putin backs a nuclear deal with Iran in which the country is unable to enrich uranium.
Putin privately communicated his stance to President Trump and Iranian officials, sources told Axios.
Iran has long insisted it should retain the ability to enrich uranium, while both the US and Israel have demanded the Islamic Republic completely abandon its enrichment capabilities — the biggest hurdle in striking a deal.
“Putin would support zero enrichment. He encouraged the Iranians to work towards that in order to make negotiations with the Americans more favorable. The Iranians said they won’t consider it,” one European official with direct knowledge of the issue told Axios.
Iran rejected such limitations.
“In any negotiated solution, the rights of the Iranian people on the nuclear issue, including the right to enrichment, must be respected,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told diplomats in Tehran Saturday.
“We will not have any agreement in which enrichment is not included.”
Russia walks a diplomatic tightrope in the Middle East, maintaining warm relations with Israel even as it deepens military and economic cooperation with Iran.
The reports stand in stark contrast to the views the Kremlin has adopted publicly as Iran’s main backer on the nuclear issue.
No later than this week, Moscow’s top diplomat said Russia was ready to refill Iran’s depleted uranium stocks. And last month, Putin said he had sent 200 Russian experts to work at an Iranian nuclear plant.
Tehran and Washington had been engaged in talks since April, but those efforts were disrupted when Israel launched a surprise June 13 attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, just two days before a planned meeting in Oman, and 61 days after US President Donald Trump set a 60-day deadline for talks.
Araghchi meanwhile, says Tehran is open to new talks on a deal.
“We are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires” he said.
With wires
English (US)