Can Russia broker a new US-Iran deal?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Iran this week, meeting President Masoud Pezeshkian and other officials after two meetings between Pezeshkian and Vladimir Putin since September. Media reports say Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran over a possible nuclear deal. Russia has extensive nuclear expertise through Rosatom and is building two new units at Iran’s Bushehr plant; it supports Iran’s civilian nuclear power programme but opposes the country acquiring nuclear weapons. Relations between Russia and Iran have recently improved, in part after Iran transferred Shahed drone technology to Russia.