President Donald Trump has ramped up sanctions on Tehran, but also shown interest in a deal on its nuclear program
Washington and Moscow decided to hold separate talks centered on Iran during last month’s high-level negotiations in Riyadh, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov has said.
Senior US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia in February, in the first major talks between the two superpowers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
”We discussed the situation around Iran, yes. And we agreed to hold separate talks on this matter,” Ushakov told the press on Tuesday when asked about Western media reports to that effect.
No set date for the talks has been agreed as of yet, he added.
US President Donald Trump has imposed heavier sanctions on Iran, touting a return to his campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran in an effort to disrupt its nuclear program, network of regional proxies and conventional weapons capability. At the same time, he has shown interest in revisiting a nuclear deal with Tehran.
In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with world powers, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the deal during his first presidency. In response, Tehran took steps back from the nuclear deal.
Germany, France and the UK have demanded that Iran give up its nuclear program in a revisited deal in the coming months, under the threat of further sanctions, UK Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters said last week.
Over the past few years, Iran has been accused of ramping up production of pre-weapons-grade uranium, which Tehran has denied.
”Iran’s nuclear program is within international frameworks,” agreements and the treaty on non-proliferation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has all the “necessary facilities” for monitoring it, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esma’eel Baqayi stressed in a press conference on Monday.
You can share this story on social media:
