Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (R) sharply criticized President Trump on Wednesday for suggesting Russia could play a mediating role in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“Russia has been receiving drones and ballistic missiles from Iran to use in its kidnapping of Ukraine,” Haley wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“Iran and Russia are partners,” Haley continued. “It is ludicrous to think we would allow Putin to be chief negotiator between the US and Iran on the Iran deal in exchange for the US helping Russia with Ukraine.”
“That is a backhanded slap to all of our allies,” she added.
Trump on Wednesday spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for roughly one hour and 15 minutes. The president said in a Truth Social post that they discussed the recent Ukrainian drone attack on Russian bombers, as well as “various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.”
They also discussed ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, Trump said.
“President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,” Trump wrote. “It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!”
Haley — the final candidate standing in the 2024 GOP presidential primary against Trump — has been a fierce and consistent critic of Iran and of the previous nuclear deal brokered during the Obama administration. Before Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018, Haley urged him to do so, in her capacity as ambassador to the U.N.
Haley has recently expressed skepticism of the Trump administration’s efforts to strike a fresh deal with Tehran.
“Iran has violated every agreement they have ever been a part of. We can’t trust them to have any amount of nuclear production,” Haley said in April. “Iran should not have a nuclear program, period.”