Putin Agrees to Help Trump Broker Nuclear Talks With Iran: Bloomberg Exclusive

Russia agreed to assist President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on issues including the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US 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 familiar with the matter in Moscow said, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Russia nor Iran have publicly confirmed or denied the request. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to questions sent by Bloomberg that “Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations” and that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.” A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, when asked if Russia had offered to mediate between Tehran and Washington, said only it was “natural” for countries to offer their assistance. “Given the significance of these matters, it’s possible that many parties will show good will and readiness to help with various problems,” the spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said during a televised press conference Monday in Tehran. “From this perspective, it’s natural that countries will present an offer of help if it’s needed.” The ministry didn’t respond to questions from Bloomberg News. Since taking office about six weeks ago, Trump has tried to restore relations with President Vladimir Putin, which the US severed after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As Trump seeks to broker an end to that war directly with Putin — including a Feb. 12 phone call between the two leaders — both sides have signaled they’re open to cooperating on other geopolitical interests, including trade routes and resources in the Arctic. Top US and Russian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussed Washington’s 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’s Lavrov later shared details about the US meeting with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi when they met in Tehran, Araghchi said in a televised press conference after the meeting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.