Putin agrees to mediate between Iran and US - Russian state media

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to mediate nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, Russian state-owned outlet Zvezda cited the Kremlin spokesman as saying on Tuesday.

Trump conveyed his administration’s interest in engaging Iran to President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in February, according to a report by Bloomberg earlier, adding that the talks would also cover Tehran's support for armed militant groups.

"Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”

Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Iran was among the issues discussed at recent Russia-US negotiations in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Both sides had agreed to meet separately to discuss the issue, he added.

Asked about potential Russian mediation between Tehran and Washington, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said offers of assistance from various nations were natural.

"Given the importance of these matters, it is expected that numerous parties will express goodwill and a willingness to assist with various issues," spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said during a televised press conference in Tehran on Monday. "Therefore, it is natural for countries to offer aid when deemed necessary."

Talks, not war

British newspaper the Daily Telegraph cited an Iranian official in Tehran saying Trump's blowout with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week had made Iran wary of engagement with the volatile US leader.

“Officials from the Kremlin contacted the supreme national security council and said Putin wants to mediate and he’s ready to facilitate direct talks between Iran and America,” the official was quoted as saying.

“They said Trump wants to talk and is preferring it over war but, here, there is a big uncertainty around it after what happened in the White House last week.”

The Trump administration last week stepped up pressure on Ukraine into accepting a deal to end the war. The proposal broadly seeks peace in exchange for Ukraine ceding captured territory to Russia.

According to sources familiar with the discussions who spoke with Bloomberg, US and Russian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussed Washington's interest in Russian assistance with Iranian issues during a February 18 meeting in Riyadh.

Subsequently, Russia's Lavrov shared details of the US meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, during a meeting in Tehran, as Araghchi confirmed in a televised press conference.

However, Araghchi later claimed that Lavrov had not conveyed a message from the United States during his Tehran visit, and that no such message was anticipated.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced the revitalization of sanctions under his “maximum pressure” policy. He underlined that his main demand is for Iran never to acquire nuclear weapons.

Last month, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Trump cannot be trusted—pointing to his withdrawal from the Obama-era nuclear deal during his first term—and added that Iran would not be pressured into negotiations.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said last week that despite his own belief in the value of engaging with the US, he would align with Khamenei’s stance as long as Washington maintains economic sanctions on Iran.