Asiye Latife Yilmaz
14 March 2026•Update: 14 March 2026
ISTANBUL
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed transferring Iran’s enriched uranium to Russia during a phone call with US President Donald Trump this week as part of a potential deal to end the war, but Trump rejected the proposal, Axios reported Friday.
Putin raised several proposals for ending the war between the US and Iran during a phone call with Trump on Monday, including a plan to transfer Iran’s enriched uranium to Russia.
"This is not the first time it was offered. It hasn't been accepted. The U.S. position is we need to see the uranium secured," a US official told Axios.
Russia has not commented on the latest conversation between Trump and Putin, but it had put forward similar proposals during the US-Iran nuclear negotiations in May 2025, before the United States and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, and again in the weeks leading up to the current war that began on Feb. 28.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a press briefing early February that the offer remained "on the table."
In the final round of talks before the start of the war, Iran rejected the proposal to transfer its enriched uranium abroad and instead suggested diluting the material at its own facilities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the report said.
"The president (Trump) talks to everyone — (Chinese President) Xi, Putin, the Europeans — and he's always willing to make a deal. But it has to be a good deal. The president doesn't make bad deals," the US official said.
Trump acknowledged for the first time that Russia may be assisting Iran in the war, following media reports that Moscow has been providing intelligence to help target US forces.
“I think he might be helping them a little bit, yeah, I guess,” Trump told Fox News when asked whether Putin was aiding Iran.
“And he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right? ... Yeah, we're helping them, also,” he added.
Trump suggested other global powers might see the dynamic in similar terms. “China would say the same thing ... ‘they do it and we do it’,” he said.
According to US media reports, Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence to help target US forces in the Middle East. The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported that Moscow passed Tehran information on the locations of US military assets, including warships and aircraft.
Since Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing some 1,200 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hostilities have escalated.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.
