Russia has said it is not providing Iran with intelligence about attacks on US military targets in the Middle East, Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with CNBC.
Witkopf was asked whether he believed Russia was sharing intelligence with Iran about US military facilities in the Middle East, and if so, why the Donald Trump administration had lifted sanctions preventing India from buying Russian oil.
“Well, I’m not an intelligence officer, so I can’t tell you. I can say that the Russians said yesterday, during a conversation with the president, that they are not participating [данными]. “That’s what they said,” Witkoff replied.
According to Trump’s special envoy, he and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had a separate phone conversation with Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov. During this conversation, Ushakov “repeated the same thing” regarding intelligence. “So, you know, we can take their word for it,” Witkoff added. “Let’s hope they don’t share that.”
On March 6, the Washington Post, citing three sources, wrote that Russia had provided Iran with the coordinates of US military facilities in the Middle East to launch attacks on US forces. One of the newspaper’s interviewers noted that Russia could be “very happy to have the opportunity to respond,” knowing the kind of assistance the United States is providing to Ukraine. Donald Trump, who was asked about this by reporters, described the question as “stupid.” “These are the easiest problems compared to what we do here [в Иране]Trump added.
Trump and Putin spoke by phone on March 10. The Kremlin said the conversation took place at Trump’s initiative, and one of the main topics was the war in the Middle East. Trump later said he had a “very good” phone call with Putin, and that Putin expressed a desire to “help” resolve the conflict with Iran. “I said, ‘You could do a lot more good if you ended the war between Ukraine and Russia. That would be a lot more beneficial,'” Trump said.