ISTANBUL

The Kremlin on Wednesday said Russia is “ready” to help Iran remove excess nuclear fuel from the country if parties to the issue of Tehran’s nuclear program deem it necessary.

“If necessary, if the parties deem it necessary, Russia will be ready to provide such services,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists during a briefing in response to a question on whether Moscow’s potential assistance on Iran’s nuclear program was discussed with Tehran and Washington.

Expressing that Russia is in "constant contacts" with Iran, Peskov confirmed that the aforementioned topic was discussed with “precisely these formulations” during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Putin and Trump held a phone call last Wednesday and discussed a whole range of international issues, with an emphasis on the “somewhat stalled situation” in talks between Iran and the US regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, according to the Russian presidential aide, Yury Ushakov.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists that Moscow is ready to assist on the matter both politically and practically, and that the moment for an agreement has “not been completely missed.”

“Now it would be necessary to redouble efforts in order to reach, albeit a palliative, not comprehensive, but still a solution to the problems associated with both the sanctions regime and the issues that Iran's opponents are raising against it. Especially since Tehran's readiness to conduct such a dialogue is visible,” he said.

Since April, Tehran and Washington have engaged in five rounds of indirect nuclear negotiations in Muscat and Rome, mediated by Oman. While both sides have acknowledged some progress, a decisive breakthrough has yet to be achieved.

Complicating the talks is the US insistence that Iran dismantle its uranium enrichment program, a demand that senior Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Abbas Araghchi, have labeled “non-negotiable.”

Trump has threatened military action against Iran if a new nuclear agreement is not reached to replace the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Washington withdrew in 2018.