On March 7, Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo asked President Donald Trump, ‘There are reports now that Russia says it will help the United States negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. What kind of a deal with Iran do you want to do? You’ve said they cannot have a nuclear weapon.’ Trump made his position clear: ‘There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal.’
He went on to call Iranians ‘great people’ suffering under what he described as an ‘evil’ regime that shoots protesters in the streets. Trump then revealed that he had sent an ultimatum-style letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking a diplomatic settlement to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state rather than resorting to military action.
Iran’s supreme leader rejected the letter, disappointing regime officials who hoped Trump’s willingness to talk could ease their economic collapse. He warned that the U.S. wouldn’t stop at nuclear negotiations but ‘raise new demands, including restrictions on defense capabilities and international influence,’ a clear reference to the IRGC’s missile program and its terror proxy network.
Khamenei’s stance mirrored Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov’s warning that Trump shouldn’t expand nuclear talks to include Iran’s missile program or regional activities, calling it unrealistic to kill three birds with one stone.
Russia’s strategy for helping the U.S. to negotiate with Iran seems clear — allow a U.S.-Israel strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, easing international pressure. Once the regime survives, Russia regains control, exploiting Iran’s wealth for decades to come. But, how much influence does Moscow truly have over Tehran?
On June 12, 1989, a week after Khamenei became supreme leader, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Smith Hempstone, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, warned in the Observer-Reporter: ‘Unfortunately if Khamenei remains in power and seeks an opening to the outside world, he is more likely to look to the Soviet Union than to the US. He is a graduate of Moscow’s Patrice Lumumba university.’
On February 5, 2010, Russia’s State TV confirmed Khamenei as a ‘notable alumnus’ in a special program marking the 50th anniversary of this training center. Dr. Ilan Berman, appointed to the RFE/RL Board of Directors by Trump’s administration in February 2025, reinforced this back in 2001, stating: ‘Interestingly, many of Iran’s hardest hardliners were trained in the Soviet Union’ including ‘Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was himself a graduate of the USSR’s training academy for third-world anti-Americans, Patrice Lumumba University.’
With Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former high-ranking KGB officer, in power, Moscow continues its Soviet-era strategy, using Muslim proxy groups against the U.S. and Israel.
