MOSCOW: Russia said on Friday that the question of Iran’s nuclear programme should be resolved politically and diplomatically, urging restraint on all sides, as US President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to hold direct talks with Tehran on a nuclear deal.

“We believe that the problem of the Iranian nuclear dossier should be discussed and resolved only by political and diplomatic means. Exclusively,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And, of course, we believe that all parties should maintain absolute restraint here and focus specifically on diplomatic efforts when discussing all issues.

“You know that we are currently working on restoring our relations with the United States, but Iran is also our partner, our ally, with whom we have very developed and multifaceted relations,” Peskov said.

His comments underscored the balance that Moscow is attempting to strike as tensions rise sharply over Iran’s nuclear activities.

Direct talks

Trump said on Thursday he wanted “direct talks” with Tehran on a nuclear deal, after he threatened to bomb Iran if it develops nuclear weapons.

Trump has given Iran’s leaders a two-month deadline to reach an agreement on the country’s nuclear program, which has strained relations with Western nations for decades.

Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting its enrichment activities were solely for peaceful purposes.

“I think it’s better if we have direct talks,” he told reporters onboard the presidential plane Air Force One. “I think it goes faster and you understand the other side 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 talks with Washington “until there is a change in the other side’s approach towards the Islamic republic”.

Trump in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

The deal, sealed between Tehran and world powers, had required Iran to limit its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2025