Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, a close advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to discuss the nuclear issue, his spokesperson said on Sunday.
Larijani “shared assessments of the worsening situation in the Middle East and surrounding the Iranian nuclear program,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. President Putin reiterated “Russia’s well-known positions on how to stabilize the regional situation and politically resolve the Iranian nuclear issue,” he added.
The meeting comes as a German diplomatic source told AFP on Sunday that the United Kingdom, France and Germany were planning to hold new talks with Tehran over its nuclear program in the coming days.
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Tehran has agreed to hold discussions with the three European countries, citing an anonymous source. Consultations are reportedly underway regarding the date and location of the talks.
Last week, Russia slammed an article by U.S. media outlet Axios, which cited three unnamed sources familiar with the matter, claiming that Putin had “encouraged” Iran to accept a deal with the United States that would prevent Tehran from enriching uranium.
Tehran is suspected by Western countries and Israel of seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb — an accusation it denies, asserting its right to pursue a nuclear program for civilian purposes.
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