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<\/p>\n\n\n\nNSC spokesman Brian Hughes: \u2018The Trump administration will talk to our adversaries and allies alike, but he will always do so from a position of strength to defend our national security\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Contributor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – MARCH 4 (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a bilateral meeting at the Grand Kremin Palace, March 4, 2025, in Moscow, Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Days after President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the Trump administration took another step closer to normalizing Moscow\u2019s role on the world stage, with a Bloomberg News <\/em>report<\/a> on Tuesday indicating that Russia agreed to work with Trump as a negotiator in nuclear talks with Iran that will also focus on mitigating Iranian proxies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The announcement was met with skepticism from foreign policy experts, who approached the news with two key questions. First, will Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has grown closer to Tehran in recent years and relied on Iranian weapons in his war against Ukraine, be an honest broker and an advocate for Washington\u2019s demands? Second, what kind of nuclear agreement would Trump be able to achieve with Russia as a mediator? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrump thinks that he\u2019ll have a Russian partner at the table,\u201d rather than Russia as an adversary, said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Trump has sought to get closer to Putin and rebuild ties with Russia, a goal he furthered after cutting U.S. military aid to Kyiv this week \u2014 so he might think Russia will be a useful partner in negotiating with Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019ll have Russia helping us not only bring the Iranians to the table, but helping persuade the Iranians, reading them the riot act, so they have no choice but to give up their entire nuclear infrastructure, or they\u2019ll be facing not only punishing American pressure and Israeli pressure, but they\u2019re not going to have the Russians in their corner,\u201d Dubowitz continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the hope, anyway; whether Russia cooperates on any of those goals is an open question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump raised the issue directly with Putin in a phone call in February, and the matter was discussed between senior administration officials and Russian counterparts during a meeting in Saudi Arabia soon after, Bloomberg<\/em> reported. It was Russia that made the offer to assist with Iran, a source familiar with the discussions told Jewish Insider<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrusting the Russians to negotiate or mediate a nuclear agreement doesn\u2019t make much sense considering the width and the breadth and the depth of the Iran-Russia relationship, and how Russia has enabled many of Iran\u2019s worst destabilizing tools,\u201d said Jonathan Lord, director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. \u201cAt the same time, Iran has worked to support Russia\u2019s malign activity, including its lethal support to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the U.S. will talk to Iran from a \u201cposition of strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Trump administration will talk to our adversaries and allies alike, but he will always do so from a position of strength to defend our national security,\u201d Hughes told JI. \u201cPresident Trump made clear by renewing his \u2018maximum pressure\u2019 order just days into his second term, the United States will not tolerate Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon or their support of terror in the Middle East and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, despite the rhetoric from Hughes, it\u2019s not clear what Trump\u2019s endgame is for Iran. He did sign an executive order reinstating \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d sanctions, but he said at the time<\/a> that he felt \u201ctorn\u201d about doing so and that he hoped the sanctions would not be used frequently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout last year\u2019s election campaign, Trump said he wanted to reach a deal with Iran. But he has not always used the same hard-line language he used in his first term, when he left the 2015 Iran nuclear deal because he said it did not go far enough in stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump has also poured cold water<\/a> on the notion that the U.S. is working with Israel on a military strike against Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe success that Trump had in the first term, I don\u2019t think the conditions right now are being laid to have a similar level of success,\u201d said Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, which has advocated<\/a> for a strike against Iran\u2019s nuclear program. \u201cAt this moment, I think the maximum pressure, as it\u2019s currently being applied, is by itself insufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s modus operandi for getting involved with the U.S. and Iran is also not obvious, and until that becomes clear, the question of whether Russia\u2019s involvement will make a difference will remain a mystery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to know what Putin is really providing here, or if it is just a way for Iran to play for time until they can rebuild their air defenses [and] their ballistic missile manufacturing capabilities,\u201d said David Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. \u201cWe just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After progress on talks with the Biden administration stalled, Iran has continued to accelerate its nuclear program. The country has increased<\/a> its enrichment of uranium to 60%, getting closer to the level needed to make a nuclear weapon. The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.\u2019s nuclear watchdog, warned in January<\/a> that Iran was \u201cpressing the gas pedal\u201d on its uranium enrichment, and yesterday called on Trump<\/a> to begin negotiating with Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n