Iran seeks Russia's support for a possible agreement with the United States on the Véhéran rapid nuclear program before a second round of talks this weekend in Rome.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, said that he had informed his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, about the first round of talks in Oman last week.
He praised the role of Russia in the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers that led to the lifting of sanctions in exchange for the Tehran ceiling on its nuclear activities.
“We hope and expect Russia to continue its supporting role in any new agreement,” Araghchi told a joint press conference with Lavrov in Moscow.
The 2015 nuclear agreement collapsed with the unilateral withdrawal of Trump in 2018, while Iran has abandoned all the limits of its nuclear activities and enriches uranium up to 60% purity, near the levels of level of weapons of 90%.
Lavrov said Russia was ready to mediate and help nuclear talks.
“We are ready to help, mediation and play any role which, from Iran's point of view, will be useful and will be acceptable to the United States,” said Lavrov.
“We are going from the fact that the only option for an agreement, as the Minister (Iranian) said, is an agreement exclusively on nuclear issues.”
Lavrov said that Araghchi had met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in talks who “emphasized the unprecedented dynamics of the political dialogue” between Moscow and Tehran.
He did not give details, beyond saying that Putin was “very satisfied” with talks.
Araghchi said he had given Putin a message from the supreme chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has a last word on all questions of the State in Iran but has given no other details.
In Paris, the American secretary of state, Marco Rubio, expressed hope that talks with Iran would be “fruitful and that they can lead to something. We would all prefer a peaceful and lasting resolution”.
Rubio met with British, French and German officials and pressed them to maintain sanctions against Iran instead of allowing them to expire.
“We must all anticipate, on the basis of public comments yesterday, that they are about to obtain a report from the IAEA which says not only Iran is out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they have never been,” said Rubio.
