This week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov travelled to Iran, where he met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and several other officials. The visit came on the tail of two meetings between Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 8 and September 1. Media reports have indicated that Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran in talks on a possible nuclear deal.
Whether these efforts will be successful is too early to judge, but there are several factors that could make Russia a potentially more effective mediator than others. As a major nuclear power and with state-owned nuclear energy giant Rosatom being a leader in the world’s civilian nuclear energy field, Russia is eminently competent in all aspects of the Iranian nuclear programme. Moscow’s general attitude towards that programme has been clear.
It supports Iranian ambition to have domestic nuclear energy generation; it is currently building two new units of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr. But it opposes Iranian development or acquisition of nuclear weapons. It certainly doesn’t want nuclear proliferation so close to its borders.
Furthermore, Russia’s relations with Iran, long testy, have markedly improved recently. One of the reasons for the growing trust between the two countries has been that both have been attacked by the United States: directly in the case of Iran and indirectly, in a proxy war fashion, in the case of Russia. In 2022, Washington openly set the goal of “inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia”.
Then, Iran came to Russia’s aid and transferred to Russia its Shahed drone technology. In early 2025, the two countries signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which outlined the parameters of expanding economic, political and military cooperation. It is important to note that the Russians proposed a mutual military assistance clause to include in the treaty, but the Iranians demurred.
Thus the criticism that Moscow supposedly failed to come to Tehran’s defence in the 12-day war of 2025 and in the ongoing military conflict is ill-informed. Russia has stood by Iran and has repaid its debt. Helping the US reach a new nuclear deal with Iran would be clearly in Russia’s interest.
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