MOSCOW — Russia has agreed to assist US President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on various issues, including on Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US proxies that largely also seek Israel’s destruction.

The news was first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg and then later confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The  Bloomberg report, which was picked up by Russian state media, earlier quoted the spokesman as saying that “Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations” and that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”

A later Reuters report said Peskov confirmed Russia was ready to promote a peaceful solution to Iran’s “nuclear problem.”

The news is potentially deeply worrying for Israel, which has sought Trump’s support for a credible military threat against Iran aimed at pressuring it to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but may now be stymied by the US leader’s increasingly cozy relationship with Putin.

Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention but has since December increased by about a half its already sizable stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, according to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog last week. The enrichment rate is far beyond what is necessary for a civilian nuclear program and a short step........

© The Times of Israel