Russia offers to mediate US-Iran nuclear dispute amid warming ties between Washington and Moscow

The Russian government has offered to mediate between the United States and Iran on issues related to Iran’s nuclear program and its support for militant groups, including Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas –organizations that are hostile to the United States and openly advocate for Israel’s destruction.

The Russian offer comes amid improved relations between Moscow and Washington following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine in an effort to end the war. 

“Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg news outlet.

The Kremlin later confirmed the Bloomberg report. The Kremlin spokesman added that Russia “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”

Peskov claimed that Moscow seeks a peaceful solution to Tehran’s “nuclear problem.”

It is currently unclear how the Trump administration will respond to Russia's offer to mediate.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order stipulating “maximum pressure” on the Iranian regime, stating that “Iran’s behavior threatens the national interest of the United States.”

The executive order stressed that the Islamic republic in Tehran “remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” adding that it “bears responsibility” for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent war through its financial, ideological and military support for its terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. 

The Trump administration has also vowed to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Russia’s close financial and military ties with Iran also raise the central question whether Moscow can be trusted as mediator between Washington and Tehran. 

In September, the U.S. and the United Kingdom reportedly expressed concerns about the secret nuclear cooperation between Russia and Iran. Russia possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and could potentially at some point decide to share its know-how with the Iranians. 

Iran has been heavily involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine, providing the Russian military with Iranian-made drones, which have been deployed against civilians in Ukrainian cities. Russia has also provided Iran with advanced aerial defense systems that protect Iran’s nuclear sites and reportedly offered to sell modern fighter jets to the Iranian Air Force. 

On Tuesday, a Reuters report revealed that Russian missile experts visited Iran around a week and a half after Iran launched its first large missile attack on Israel in April 2024. The Russian military experts reportedly visited Iran a second time around two weeks before Tehran launched its second missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1. 

“A senior Iranian defense ministry official said Russian missile experts had made multiple visits to Iranian missile production sites last year, including two underground facilities, with some of the visits taking place in September,” Reuters stated. 

The report further revealed that “two are experts in air-defense missile systems, three specialize in artillery and rocketry,” and “one has a background in advanced weapons development and another has worked at a missile-testing range.”

These visits from Russian military experts to Iran indicate a high degree of military coordination between Russia and the ayatollah regime. 

Furthermore, Russia has refrained from condemning the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of 251 people – both alive and deceased – from southern Israeli border communities.

Russia has also hosted several senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization, which openly calls for the destruction of Israel.