Moscow declares it is still ready to restore the initiative if it helps cool down Middle East tensions.
Russia confirmed that the US has rejected the proposal to allow Russia to receive and store Iran's enriched uranium - a plan that was once assessed as a possible way to untie the knot in nuclear negotiations. However, the Kremlin affirmed that this initiative is still on the table if the parties want to return to the diplomatic path.
On April 15, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia's proposal had been made quite a long time ago and Iran had agreed at that time. According to him, this is a very good solution, but "unfortunately, the US side refused".
This statement appeared in the context that Iran's nuclear dossier continues to be a major bottleneck in relations between Washington and Tehran. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly requested Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear infrastructure and hand over all enriched uranium - something Tehran has resolutely rejected.
Iran affirms that its nuclear program only serves peaceful purposes and uranium enrichment is "untransferable sovereignty".
Previously, Tehran had left open the possibility of transferring part of the uranium to a third country like Russia, especially in the rounds of negotiations before the military conflict between the US, Israel and Iran broke out at the end of February.
According to Mr. Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin is still "ready to return to this initiative" if it helps reduce tensions in the Middle East. He also emphasized that Russia is ready to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure transparent monitoring.
Notably, Russia believes that Iran is one of the countries most inspected by the UN nuclear agency, and so far there is no evidence that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
The above developments occurred when indirect contact channels between the US and Iran were still maintained after the most recent round of negotiations in Islamabad failed to make a breakthrough. Tehran accused Washington of "violating trust" and seeking to impose conditions.
According to sources, the US once proposed a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment and asked Iran to move all stockpiles out of the country. However, Mr. Trump later said that 20 years was still "not long enough". Conversely, Iran proposed a 5-year deadline and rejected the request to confiscate about 440kg of enriched uranium.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also spoke out, affirming that Iran has "unspoiled rights" in developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
