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Putin reiterates offer to store Iran's enriched uranium as diplomatic option
Russia keeps a long-standing proposal on the table to serve as custodian for Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile, revisiting a proposal Trump has rejected and Iran previously declined.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Valdai Discussion Club forum on October 1 that Russia's offer to receive and store Iran's enriched uranium remains available if it is removed from the country. The proposal, first floated in June 2025 and reiterated multiple times since, would position Moscow as a neutral third party to hold Iran's 450 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity—enough material for over 10 nuclear weapons if further processed. Putin cited Russia's successful handling of Iran's low-enriched uranium under the 2015 nuclear deal as precedent for its technical capability to manage the material. The Kremlin has pushed the uranium proposal since March 2026, when Putin first raised it during a phone call with President Trump as part of a broader plan to end the US-Iran war. Trump rejected the offer, insisting that the U.S. must see the uranium secured—implying direct American custody or destruction. On May 27, Trump explicitly stated he would not be comfortable with Russia or China taking control of the material, saying instead that Iran's enriched uranium would be destroyed either in the U.S., in Iran itself, or "at another acceptable location." Russia has framed the proposal as a confidence-building mechanism for de-escalation. Putin acknowledged that earlier in negotiations, all parties initially agreed to move uranium out of Iran, but talks collapsed when the U.S. hardened its position demanding exclusive U.S. custody, after which Iran hardened its own position and rejected the transfer option. Iran had previously proposed diluting the uranium domestically under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision as an alternative. The proposal's revival at the Valdai forum signals Moscow's continued effort to position itself as an indispensable mediator in the Iran nuclear dispute, despite Trump's repeated rejection. Whether Iran would now accept the arrangement remains unclear, as previous negotiations showed Tehran's resistance to transferring uranium abroad. The timing of Putin's reiteration suggests Russia is signaling its readiness to play a role in any future deal, though the core dispute—whether Iran surrenders its stockpile and to whom—remains unresolved.