Putin tells Trump and Iran he's in favor of ending Tehran's uranium enrichment – Axios

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has told U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian officials that he supports a nuclear deal under which Tehran will not be able to enrich uranium. This is stated by the American resource Axios, citing its own anonymous interlocutors.

Russia has for years been Iran's main diplomatic ally on the nuclear issue, but while Moscow publicly supports Tehran's right to enrich uranium, Putin has taken a tougher stance in private conversations since the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, according to media reports.

Russian Federation encouraged Iranians to agree to zero enrichment, three European and one Israeli official with knowledge of the matter said.

Two interlocutors said that the Russians also informed the Israeli government about the dictator's position on enrichment in Iran.

"We know that this is what Putin told the Iranians," said an unnamed Israeli official.

The dictator and other Russian officials have told Iranians several times in recent weeks that they favor a zero-enrichment deal, the interlocutors said.

"Putin would support zero enrichment. He encouraged the Iranians to work towards that in order to make negotiations with the Americans more favorable. The Iranians said they won't consider it," said one European official.

According to Axios, Putin expressed the same position during telephone conversations with US President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

If negotiations between Washington and Tehran take place in the coming weeks, one of the key US demands will be zero enrichment on Iranian territory, the interlocutors said.

At the same time, Iran has long insisted that it should retain the ability to enrich uranium as part of any agreement.

The media notes that the Russians have publicly and privately made it clear that if an agreement is reached, they are ready to export highly enriched uranium from Iran.

According to the interlocutors, Russia said it would supply Iran with uranium enriched to 3.67% for nuclear power, as well as small amounts of 20% uranium for Tehran's research reactor and nuclear isotope production.

Putin's stance is especially notable given the broad support Tehran provided to Moscow during the war against Ukraine; during the conflict with Israel, Iranians were disappointed that the Russians did not provide them with any substantive support beyond press statements, Axios notes.

The White House and Kremlin did not respond to media inquiries. Iran's UN mission declined to comment.

• on July 10, Israel said that it would strike Iran again if Tehran threatens it.