US President Donald Trump expressed interest in talking to Iran about those issues, both in his phone call to Putin in February and via representatives at the high-level US-Russian meeting in Riyadh just days later, the news agency wrote, citing anonymous officials.
“Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” Peskov told Bloomberg when asked about such contact.
Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this,” he added.
The American leader returned to his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran last month. Trump’s executive order said that Washington would ramp up sanctions on Tehran, aiming to disrupt “its nuclear program, conventional missile deployment, and network of regional proxy groups”.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has stressed the country is building up its defenses, citing regular threats from US ally Israel.
“The Israeli regime keeps threatening Iran with military action while the West continues to blame Iran for its defense capability. This is outrageous & irrational,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei stated last week.
Given that Israel is “addicted to aggression and lawless behavior,” it is “responsible and essential to maximize our defense capabilities,” he stressed.
Israel and the West have long seen Iran’s uranium enrichment activities as a secret attempt to develop nuclear weapons – allegations that Tehran has repeatedly denied.
While Trump has touted harsher sanctions, he has also signaled that he is interested in signing a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has stressed that talks with the US are unlikely to bear fruit, citing the prior nuclear deal Trump unilaterally left during his first presidency.
