Russia denies asking Iran to agree to ‘zero enrichment’ nuclear deal with US
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied recent reports that Vladimir Putin asked Iran to agree to a “zero enrichment” nuclear deal with the US, branding such a suggestion “targeted disinformation” in a press release published on Sunday.
On Saturday, Axios reported, citing three European officials and one Israeli official with direct knowledge of the matter, that Moscow had urged Tehran to effectively halt its nuclear enrichment efforts, with Vladimir Putin expressing that position last week in calls to US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Putin would support zero enrichment. He encouraged the Iranians to work towards that in order to make negotiations with the Americans more favourable. The Iranians said they won’t consider it,” one European official told Axios.
According to the press release published by the Foreign Ministry, which also highlighted recent comments by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressing Moscow’s interests in mediating between Washington and Tehran, Axios’ reporting is part of a “dirty politicised campaign” being launched “aiming to escalate tensions around the Iranian nuclear program”.
On Saturday, Iran’s state-owned news agency Tasnim also denied Axios’ reporting, citing a top source who claimed that Tehran had not received any request from Vladimir Putin to agree to “zero enrichment”.
“At the last meeting between Mr. Putin and [Iranian Foreign Minister] Abbas Araghchi, such an issue was not raised,” the source told Tasnim. “After that, no messages about zero enrichment were exchanged.
Iran, meanwhile, has closely supported Russia throughout its war with Ukraine, supplying Moscow with Shahed suicide drones and other military equipment that have played a key role in Russia’s ongoing strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Russia has been a long-standing diplomatic ally to Iran on the nuclear issue for many years. However, as the Wall Street Journal reported on 23 June, Iran was dissatisfied that Moscow did not provide any military aid during its recent 12-day war with Israel.
