Moscow maintains close and trust-based relations with both West Jerusalem and Tehran, the Russian president has said

Russia is acting as an intermediary between Israel and Iran, President Vladimir Putin has said. West Jerusalem has turned to Moscow for assistance in conveying to Tehran its commitment to peace and its desire to avoid confrontation, he added.

Moscow is working closely with Tehran to ease tensions around the Iranian nuclear program, Putin said at the Russia-Central Asia summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Thursday. Russia also wants to help revive "constructive cooperation" between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Israel relies on Russia's partnership with Iran to convey messages to the Islamic Republic's leadership, Putin said.

"We continue our trust-based contacts with Israel and receive signals from the Israeli leadership asking us to convey to our Iranian friends that Israel, too, is committed to further de-escalation and is not interested in any form of confrontation," the president said.

Moscow believes that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the issues linked to the Iranian nuclear program, the Russian leader said.

Earlier this week, Putin spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They discussed a possible settlement to the Gaza war and US President Donald Trump's peace proposals. The Iranian nuclear program and stabilizing the situation in Syria were also on the agenda, according to the Kremlin.

Russia offered its assistance in establishing dialogue between Israel and Iran following the recent hostilities between the two nations. In July, Putin told Netanyahu that Moscow was ready "to contribute in every possible way to finding a negotiated solution" to the tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program.

Putin was among the few world leaders to contact both Israel and Iran immediately after the first strikes between the two nations in June in an effort to defuse tensions. West Jerusalem and Tehran ended up exchanging strikes for 12 days. At the time, Moscow also proposed several compromise frameworks to all parties, according to Putin.

(RT.com)