President Trump thinks he has found an unlikely mediator to tame Iran’s nuclear ambitions: Vladimir Putin. Ending the Ukraine war to rebuild bridges with Moscow and leveraging Russia’s influence to pressure Tehran — on paper, it might seem bold, even strategic. But it is detached from reality.

Putin gains nothing by threatening his Iranian allies. In fact, Moscow and Tehran’s strategic partnership has grown stronger precisely because of shared opposition to American influence. Trump is wrong to assume that Russia can be manipulated into serving U.S. interests, ignoring the deepening alignment between the two authoritarian powers. By mistaking rivalry for leverage, Trump risks not only empowering Putin but also destabilizing the Middle East further, ensuring his diplomatic strategy ends in failure.

Having lost more than 800,000 soldiers, suffered cumulative GDP losses exceeding $500 billion and moving towards a “decade-long recession” with $300 billion of Russian foreign reserves frozen due to sanctions, Putin already feels the weight of the invasion he launched in 2022. The war is now more than three years long. He wants an exit, provided it occurs on his terms.

Trump sees an opportunity: end the war, ease sanctions and use Putin to pressure Iran. In a February phone conversation, Putin agreed to assist Trump in brokering U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, a matter further discussed when Russian and American........

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