Stalled Iran-US Talks Bring Moscow Back to Mediation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has returned to the forefront of diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war with Iran, as negotiations between Washington and Tehran remain deadlocked. The Kremlin announced that Putin conveyed Iran’s position on a potential resolution of the conflict to U.S. President Donald Trump during a phone call, in coordination with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, without disclosing the substance of the proposals.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov noted that Trump welcomed the continuation of indirect dialogue between Washington and Tehran, emphasizing that “diplomatic options have not been exhausted, and reaching an agreement is both possible and necessary.” Pezeshkian stressed that his country is not withdrawing from negotiations but is firmly defending its rights and rejecting unilateral stances that hinder a settlement.
On the nuclear file, Putin renewed Moscow’s offer to host Iran’s highly enriched uranium, and the Kremlin stated that Trump expressed interest in the proposal.
The Pentagon acknowledged that the number of soldiers killed in the Middle East during operations directed against Iran exceeds previously reported figures, updating its official tally to include two additional deaths, bringing the total to 21.
Last month, The Washington Post published a report, based on information from six U.S. officials, stating that the number of military personnel killed in those operations was higher than what the Pentagon had publicly disclosed in its official database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS). At the time, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the report as “purely false” in a social media post. However, the Pentagon subsequently raised the number reported in DCAS to account for the additional deaths. The total number of fatalities among the forces—linked by the administration to operations directed against Iran and officially recorded in the military casualty statistics system—stands at 21.
