Putin Reportedly Supports Iran Zero Enrichment Plan Backed By US
Tehran is expected to reject taking enrichment down to zero
(ZH) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told President Trump that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, according to US officials who spoke to Axios.
However, amid reports saying that the same message has been conveyed to Tehran, Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim denied it, quoting an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any such messages.
Russia has long advocated that Iran should have the right to enrich, so Putin signing off on this ‘zero enrichment’ US plan marks what could be a significant shift, and much tougher position. Presumably a scheme like this would involve an external power like Russia shipping in the enriched product needed for nuclear energy plants.
Iranian state media, Politico
In the wake of the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict, which ended with the US bombing three key Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump has declared as his red line that the Islamic Republic no longer enrich uranium.
Moscow, which has long acted as a diplomatic go-between involving Iran and the US, appears to now side with this US position as a way forward:
Citing three European officials and one senior Israeli official familiar with the matter, the outlet reported that Moscow has encouraged Tehran to accept the “zero-enrichment” condition.
“We know that this is what Putin told the Iranians,” a senior Israeli official was quoted as saying.
But again, the Iranians appear to be denying this, based on current state media reports.
The basic framework of ‘deals’ Washington has offered the Iranians is said to be that Tehran must abandon any all efforts for highly enriched uranium in return for sanctions relief.
“Putin supports the no-enrichment option. He encouraged the Iranians to move in this direction to facilitate dialogue with the U.S. But Tehran refused even to consider this possibility.”
But the Iranians have also been demanding answers to the question of when and how these layers of sanctions will be removed by Washington.
Iranian leaders also don’t trust the US, given a history of flip-flopping on key agreements like the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, which Trump pulled out of in 2018, during his first term.
Tehran is expected to reject taking enrichment down to zero, considering it sees as a matter of national sovereignty, but may agree to impose limits on enrichment and a monitoring regimen – though it just reportedly kicked UN IAEA inspectors out of the country.
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Header featured image (edited) credit: Grigory Sysoev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP. Emphasis added by (TLB)
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