MOSCOW
\nIranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent his foreign minister to Russia on Thursday with a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin, aiming to shore up support from Moscow ahead of a second round of nuclear negotiations with the United States.
\nUS President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with bombing and extending tariffs to third countries that buy its oil if Tehran does not come to an agreement with Washington over its disputed nuclear program. The United States has moved additional warplanes into the region.
\nThe US and Iran held talks in Oman last weekend that both sides described as positive and constructive. Ahead of a second round of talks set to take place in Rome this weekend, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that Iran\u2019s right to enrich uranium is not negotiable.
\nRussia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran\u2019s nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding UN Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
\n\u201cRegarding the nuclear issue, we always had close consultations with our friends China and Russia. Now it is a good opportunity to do so with Russian officials,\u201d Araqchi told state TV. He said he was conveying a letter to Putin that discussed regional and bilateral issues.
\nWestern powers say Iran is refining uranium to a high degree of fissile purity beyond what is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to the level suitable for an atomic bomb. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it has a right to a civilian nuclear program.
\nMoscow has bought weapons from Iran for the war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year, although it did not include a mutual defense clause. The two countries were battlefield allies in Syria for years until their ally Bashar Assad was toppled in December.
\nPutin has kept on good terms with Khamenei as both Russia and Iran are cast as enemies by the West, but Moscow is keen not to trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
\nRussia has said that any military strike against Iran would be illegal and unacceptable. The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to comment when asked if Russia was ready to take control of Iran\u2019s stocks of enriched uranium as part of a possible future nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent his foreign minister to Russia on Thursday with a letter for Russian President Vladimir Putin, aiming to shore up support from Moscow ahead of a second round of nuclear negotiations with the United States. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with bombing and extending tariffs to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-473185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n