Moscow (TDI): Russia said on Friday that the question of Iran’s nuclear program should be resolved politically and diplomatically, urging restraint on all sides, as US President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to hold direct negotiations with Tehran on a nuclear agreement.
“We think that the issue of the Iran nuclear program should be discussed and resolved only by political and diplomatic means. Exclusively,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
“We think that all parties should maintain complete restraint and focus only on diplomatic means when discussing all matters.”
“You know that Russia is currently working on restoring ties with the US, but Tehran is also Moscow’s partner, ally, with whom we have very strong and multifaceted relations,” Peskov said.
His remarks highlighted the balance that Russia is attempting to strike as tensions rise sharply over Tehran’s nuclear activities.
Trump said on Thursday he wanted “direct negotiations” with Iran on a nuclear deal, after he threatened to bomb Iran if it develops nuclear weapons.
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Trump has given Iran’s leaders a 2-month deadline to reach an agreement on the country’s nuclear program, which has strained ties with Western countries for decades.
Western nations including the US have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting its enrichment activities were only for peaceful purposes.
“I think it’s better if we have direct negotiations,” Trump told reporters onboard the presidential plane Air Force One.
“I think it goes faster and you understand the other party a lot better than if you go through intermediaries.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that Tehran would not engage in direct negotiations with the United States “until there is a change in the other side’s approach towards the Islamic republic”.
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Trump in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran.
The agreement, sealed between Iran and world powers, had required Tehran to limit its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.
