Russia offered to stop its intelligence-sharing with Iran in exchange for the United States suspending intelligence support to Ukraine, but Washington rejected the offer, Politico reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The quid pro quo proposal was delivered last week in Miami by Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev to U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, according to the report.
Politico said the proposal will likely deepen suspicions in Europe that the Witkoff-Dmitriev meetings are not aimed at advancing a Ukraine peace settlement, but rather at exploring bilateral arrangements that could sideline European partners.
A source familiar with the discussions told Politico that Russia put forward additional Iran-related proposals that Washington has also rejected, including the idea of transferring enriched uranium from Iran to Russia.
Russia has expanded intelligence-sharing and military cooperation with Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attack on Tehran on Feb. 28, the source added, citing Western intelligence assessments.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Moscow supplied Tehran with satellite imagery and drone technology for strikes on U.S. forces in the region. The Kremlin has dismissed the reports as “fake news.”
Trump on Friday slammed NATO allies for refusing to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz, accusing them of failing to support what he described as a “simple military maneuver” to reopen the vital oil shipping lane.
“They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz … COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Despite scaling back other forms of support, the U.S. continues to share intelligence with Ukraine. Washington briefly froze intelligence-sharing with Kyiv last year following the Oval Office clash between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
One European diplomat who spoke to Politico sought to play down the risks of the Russian proposal, pointing to a January statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that France now provides “two-thirds” of the military intelligence supplied to Ukraine.
Read this story in Russian at The Moscow Times' Russian service.
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