Russia welcomed the willingness of the United States and Iran to engage in dialogue on the nuclear issue. The Kremlin expressed hope that the direct and indirect talks, which Oman will host on April 12, will lead to de-escalation in the Middle East. President Donald Trump spoke about the upcoming meeting during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latter was a proponent of a forceful scenario against Iran, but is now adjusting his position. The only thing Netanyahu asked the White House for was to get Iran’s uranium enrichment program shut down.
Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing that the Russian side supports the start of the US-Iranian negotiation process. “We have repeatedly said that we are in favor of resolving the problem of the Iranian nuclear dossier through political and diplomatic measures,” the Kremlin representative drew attention. “If that’s the case, it can only be welcomed.” Peskov added that Moscow is aware that “certain contacts, direct and indirect,” are planned in Oman. The Kremlin expressed hope that this could lead to a “de-escalation of tensions” in the Middle East, which began to grow amid public threats from the United States to authorize a strike on Iran.
The meeting with the Iranian negotiators was announced “almost at the highest level” by Trump himself during talks with Netanyahu at the White House on April 7. According to him, the consultations will be direct. Washington is already talking directly with Tehran, the American leader said. “We’re going to have a very important meeting, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. – I think everyone agrees that it is preferable to reach a deal than to do the obvious (probably, we are talking about bombing the Iranian infrastructure. – “NG”). So let’s see if we can avoid that. But all of this is entering a very dangerous area.” The American leader stressed that the possible success of the negotiation process would fully meet the interests of the Iranians.
If the dialogue fails, “Iran will be in great danger,” the head of the White House said at the same time. Earlier, Trump had already threatened the Islamic Republic with “unprecedented bombardments” if they did not decide on a deal. “They (the Iranians. – “NG”) it is impossible to have nuclear weapons, – the American leader believes. “If the negotiations are not successful, I think it will be a very bad day for Iran.” He drew attention to the fact that the issue of the Iranian atom is primarily related to the risk of an arms race in the Middle East. “Now there are countries with nuclear power that should not have it. But I am sure we will be able to reach an agreement on this later,” Trump added, speaking in the Oval Office.
Tehran confirmed the start of the negotiation process. The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, Abbas Araghchi, said in a tweet that Oman would host the meeting, but the delegations would arrive there “for high-level indirect talks.” “This is not only an opportunity, but also a test. The ball is on the American side,” added the chief of Iranian diplomacy. Later, in a conversation with the Tasnim news agency, Araghchi said that he would lead the negotiators from the Iranian side, while the American delegates would be led by the US president’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. According to the NourNews news agency, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud al-Busaidi will also take part in the meeting.
Netanyahu himself, who paid an unannounced visit to the United States, did not try to dissuade Trump from dialogue with Iran, according to sources from the Iranian opposition channel Iran International. However, according to them, the Israeli prime minister called on the White House to make any negotiations conditional on the complete closure of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Israel believes that Iran’s only goal in consultations with the United States is to maintain guarantees that it will be able to enrich uranium at least at minimal levels. If such a window of opportunity is left for Tehran, it will be able to quickly resume its nuclear development after the end of Trump’s presidential term or in another period, Iran International cites Israel’s forecasts.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recorded in March that in the first quarter of 2025, Iran’s reserves of 60% enriched uranium increased from 182 to 275 kg. These figures are too impressive for a state that officially declares the civilian nature of its nuclear program. According to international inspectors, it is possible to make the transition from the 60% enrichment level to the 90% level necessary to obtain weapons of mass destruction in the shortest possible time – from a few weeks to a month. In this regard, Tehran is suspected of being ready to make a sharp leap in its developments in order to change the balance of power in the Middle East.
Speaking at the White House, Netanyahu expressed confidence that Iran could abandon the development of nuclear weapons based on the model of Libya. In 2003, during the era of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, the former Jamahiriya itself curtailed military research programs in the nuclear field and agreed to facilitate international inspections. “Look, we (with the United States) are united in the goal that Iran will never get nuclear weapons,– Netanyahu said. – If it can be done fully diplomatically, as it was done in Libya, I think it’s good. But no matter what happens, we must make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.”
In a conversation with NG, Pavel Koshkin, a senior researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained that the expediency of negotiations between the United States and Iran is partly due to Trump’s desire to divert attention from the collapse of markets caused by the new policy of duties. “The trade wars have caused a very big stir in the global economy,– the source said. – In addition, it is important for the US president to demonstrate at least some results and victories against the backdrop of the emerging split in the Republican camp around the tariff policy of the head of state. Moreover, his ratings show a negative trend. There are no major breakthroughs in the negotiations on Ukraine either. Therefore, a set of reasons should be taken into account here.”
