Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed to the United States a possible framework for settling the war in the Middle East that would involve transferring Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium to Russian territory. This was reported by Axios.
According to the outlet, Putin raised the idea with Donald Trump during a phone call on March 9. Axios sources say the U.S. president rejected the proposal.
The United States and Israel have launched a military campaign against Iran, insisting that the Islamic regime abandon efforts to develop nuclear weapons. As Axios notes, Tehran currently possesses about 450 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. If further enriched—to 90%, the level required for weapons—those reserves could, according to estimates, be sufficient to produce roughly ten nuclear warheads, a process that would be technologically feasible within a matter of weeks.
Russia has previously advanced a similar initiative. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, enriched uranium from Iran was transported out of the country and stored on Russian territory.
“This proposal has been raised before. It was not accepted. The U.S. position is that there must be confidence that the uranium will be stored securely,” a Donald Trump administration official told Axios.