Putin, Xi and Iran’s uranium transfer plan

The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin raised the idea of transferring enriched Iranian uranium to Russia during his latest talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Iranian file was discussed during a “tea session” between the two leaders.

Peskov said Putin briefed Xi on the Russian initiative to move enriched Iranian uranium to Russian territory, describing it as a formula Tehran and Washington could discuss if they found it suitable. He added that the Russian proposal “remains on the table” and has been discussed with the United States and countries in the region, while acknowledging that Washington has not agreed to it so far.

The Russian idea is not entirely new. Moscow played a similar role in 2015, when part of Iran’s low-enriched uranium was transferred to Russia under the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Putin himself said Russia had already moved uranium from Iran in 2015 and was ready to repeat the experience. He said the proposal initially won acceptance from Iran, the United States and Israel, before Washington later changed its position and hardened its conditions.

Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Russia is fully ready to help implement any possible arrangements related to enriched Iranian uranium. Her remarks came as Moscow raised the level of its public comments on the file.

At the same time, recent Iranian developments showed that the main obstacle is not technical but political inside Tehran. Western reports quoted two senior Iranian sources as saying that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued instructions that the enriched uranium stockpile should not leave the country, on the grounds that keeping it is tied to Iranian national security.

That position came as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during BRICS meetings in New Delhi that the transfer of uranium “is not on the table” and is not part of the core of the ongoing negotiations. The US administration, meanwhile, continues to reject giving Russia the role of “custodian” of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

Disputes over enrichment and international monitoring mechanisms remain, leaving the uranium transfer file among the most complicated issues in the current talks. Between Iran’s insistence that the stockpile stay on its territory and Washington’s refusal to give Moscow that role, the proposal remains on the table politically and diplomatically.

“The real guarantor”

Dr. Mirzad Hajm, a political science lecturer and researcher at the Center for Scientific, Applied and Consultative Research in Moscow, said Putin’s offer to transfer enriched Iranian uranium to Russian territory cannot be treated as a purely technical or logistical step. He said it is a geopolitical move with broad strategic dimensions.

In comments to Eram News, Hajm said Moscow is trying through this proposal to become the “real guarantor” preventing Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, while also giving the Kremlin a bargaining and pressure card in dealings with the United States on other international files. He said the approach also keeps Tehran within Russia’s direct sphere of influence.

He added that involving Xi Jinping in the initiative was not symbolic, but reflected Moscow’s view that any lasting settlement of the Iranian nuclear file needs a political and economic cover alongside the West. In his view, Russian-Chinese coordination is meant to turn the proposal into a joint “Eurasian guarantee” that gives Tehran greater reassurance and sends Washington a direct message that managing Middle East crises is no longer the preserve of Western powers alone.

Hajm said Moscow is following a cautious diplomatic tactic, which was visible in Zakharova’s remarks stressing that the final decision belongs to Iran alone. He said Russia is trying to avoid appearing as if it is imposing guardianship over the Iranian nuclear program, while still offering a political exit that preserves Iran’s sovereignty and spares it the risk of possible American or Israeli military escalation.

He also said Russia is moving as an “indispensable mediator” at this stage, seeking to contain regional tension and secure its southern borders, while reinforcing its image as a power capable of shaping practical solutions to complex crises.

“Concessions and gains”

Political analyst and Russian affairs expert Dr. Mahmoud Al-Afandi said the latest Russian-Chinese summit came at a highly sensitive time after a series of moves and contacts linked to the crisis in the Middle East. He said the Iranian nuclear file, especially the issue of enriched uranium, has become the focus of current international understandings.

In comments to Eram News, Al-Afandi said the discussion of transferring enriched Iranian uranium is directly tied to changes in the shape of the international system. He argued that the crisis moved long ago beyond the nuclear file itself and has become part of a wider struggle over global influence and the division of roles among major powers.

He said Iran has become a key anchor in the project of building a multipolar world led by Russia and China. He added that rapid developments in the Middle East have, in practice, accelerated the formation of this new system more than the war in Ukraine has.

Al-Afandi said Russia insists that the Iranian decision must remain fully independent, and that any concessions from Tehran must be matched by clear gains, whether through lifting sanctions, recovering frozen Iranian funds, or providing economic compensation. He noted that enriched uranium represents huge investments worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

He said the quantities being discussed, between 400 and 500 kilograms, cost Iran roughly $150 billion to $160 billion, making any agreement dependent on mutual economic and political guarantees. He added that the war has reached its final stages militarily, and that the enriched uranium file has become “the last reason for the war.”

In his view, any final understanding on this issue could open the door to a broader political settlement that ends the current confrontation and lays the ground for a new phase of international understandings.