Russia seeks to serve as mediator between US and Iran
Russia has agreed to the Trump administration's request to mediate contacts with Iran, including over the development of its nuclear program and its support for its proxies in the Middle East: Hezbollah, the Houthis and militias.
U.S. President Donald Trump asked Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue in a phone call last month, and senior administration officials discussed the topic with their Russian counterparts in talks in Saudi Arabia a few days later.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Bloomberg that Moscow has agreed to mediate: "Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve their problems through negotiations. Moscow is ready to do everything possible to achieve this."
Reuters has revealed that several senior Russian missile experts have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic deepened its security cooperation with Moscow, and almost simultaneously with its attacks on Israel.
A Reuters review of travel records and employment data showed the seven security experts were invited to fly from Moscow to Tehran on two flights, on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two groups' reservations as well as the passenger list for the second flight.
Reuters has revealed that several senior Russian missile experts have visited Iran over the past year. Booking records included the individuals' passport numbers, and six of the seven had the prefix "20". A passport used for official state business is specified, which is issued to government officials on business trips abroad and to military personnel stationed abroad, according to a decree published by the Russian government and a document on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Reuters could not determine what the seven did in Iran.
A senior Iranian Defense Ministry official acknowledged that Russian missile experts visited several missile manufacturing sites in Iran last year, including two underground facilities, and that some visits took place in September. The official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, did not specify where the sites were located.
A Western security official who monitors Iran's security cooperation with Russia and who also asked to remain anonymous said an unspecified number of Russian missile experts visited an Iranian missile base about 15 kilometers west of the port of Amirabad on Iran's Caspian Sea coast in September. Reuters could not confirm whether the visitors cited by the official were the same Russians who boarded the two flights in question.
In addition, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released last week says that in recent months Iran has accelerated the pace of production of highly enriched uranium, close to the level needed to produce nuclear weapons. According to the report, the amount of 60% enriched uranium currently in the Islamic Republic's possession is enough to produce six atomic bombs.
An enrichment level of 60% is a level from which the 90% enrichment necessary to produce nuclear weapons can be easily and quickly achieved.
According to an IAEA report obtained by the Associated Press, Iran already possessed 274.8 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent as of February 8. This is an increase of 92.5 kilograms since the agency's last report, published in November. In that report, Iran's stockpile of 60% enriched uranium was estimated at 182.3 kilograms, and in the preceding report in August, it was estimated at 164.7 kilograms.