MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Tehran and Washington are struggling to finalize a peace deal, and Russia warns of a potential symmetric strike on Ukraine or even NATO countries in the wake of an attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Meanwhile, the European Union is weighing freezing its price cap on Russian oil amid the Iran war. These stories topped Monday's headlines in Russia.

 

Izvestia: Iran, US struggling to finalize peace deal

Iran and the United States may soon reach an agreement. Even as the two sides are currently discussing details, experts interviewed by Izvestia doubt Washington and Tehran will be able to coordinate a comprehensive peace agreement. Both sides are still reluctant to make concessions on Iran’s nuclear program, the status of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as procedures toward unfreezing Iranian assets, among other key issues. Israel, which has continued to expand the scope of attacks in Lebanon, too, follows the talks. The Jewish state may as well try to disrupt a diplomatic resolution if it feels that its interests will not be taken into account.

The New York Times and Axios reported that, following a White House meeting on May 29, the US leader demanded a number of changes to a potential agreement regarding the nuclear deal and access to frozen Iranian assets.

The United States’ tough negotiating stance has drawn criticism from Tehran. By putting forward excessive demands, Trump is clearly demonstrating that he is not seeking to resolve the conflict, military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mohsen Rezaee said. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stressed that the Islamic Republic will not agree to any deal until the rights of the Iranian people are guaranteed.

Meanwhile, military tensions have not subsided, with the two sides continuing to deliver mutual strikes. Over the past week alone, the US and Iran have attacked each other at least twice. On Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported destroying a US MQ-1 Predator drone. And the Pentagon does not rule out full-scale hostilities if Tehran refuses to make concessions.

"Judging from incoming reports, progress on certain areas of the negotiations can be made indeed. The current stage may see a long negotiation process and bargaining rather than a quick final agreement. Therefore, I would assess the likelihood of any comprehensive agreements soon as `below average’," Ivan Bocharov, program manager at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), argued.

Farkhad Ibragimov, lecturer with the Economic Department at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, believes that even if the US and Iran finalize an agreement this would not give absolute guarantees that Washington will refrain from delivering new strikes on Iran for good.

On the other hand, the Iranians are currently in a better position politically than the US or Trump, Vladimir Sazhin, senior researcher with the Center for Middle and Near East Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, told Izvestia. "Their key task is to prolong the process to November midterm elections to Congress and then see how Trump will act after his Republican party fails. This will change the US policy course, as is expected by Iran," he said.

 

Media: Russia warns of potential symmetric strike on Ukraine or NATO countries in wake of attack on ZNPP

On Saturday, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a drone attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), causing a hole in the wall of the turbine hall of a power unit. Unlike previous attacks on the ZNPP, we can say with confidence that this was the first-ever targeted strike. Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev warned that the world has moved a step closer to an incident that will "affect even those living far outside Russia or Ukraine." Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned of potential "symmetric strikes on Ukrainian NPPs or even NPPs in NATO countries." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed "serious concern" about the latest attack on the nuclear facility.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large for the Kiev regime’s crimes Rodion Miroshnik blamed Kiev’s actions on European countries that he said are sponsoring the regime.

The EU is actually supporting Kiev’s activities, former Ukrainian lawmaker Vladimir Oleinik agrees. According to him, the EU has been playing an increasingly active role in the Ukraine conflict by financing it, supplying it with weapons and keeping Kiev’s coffers afloat. "The European Union has long ceased to be an economic bloc. It is a union that is taking an active part in a military conflict. The €90 billion loan to Kiev earmarked by Brussels is money for the war. And their `Peace Facility’ has long ceased to be as such, as weapons for Ukraine are purchased through it," he told Izvestia.

Valentin Gibalov, an independent expert on nuclear energy, said in an interview with Kommersant that strikes on the turbine hall may take out the plant’s major infrastructure facility and perhaps cause a major fire on the ZNPP premises.

ZNPP Communications Director Yevgenia Yashina told Kommersant that the intensity of attacks by Ukrainian troops targeting Energodar, the ZNPP’s satellite city, has "notably increased" over the past weeks. Facilities unrelated to military infrastructure have come under attack, she lamented.

"Any attack on the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant may cause unpredictable consequences and pose risks to the region’s safety," ZNPP Director Yury Chernichuk warned. According to him, all of the plant’s systems are operating normally, and the background radiation at the ZNPP is within natural levels. But attacks on the premises of the nuclear facility continued on Sunday when six buses and two Gazel mini-vans were damaged, the ZNPP director said.

 

Kommersant: EU may move to freeze price cap on Russian Urals oil

The EU may freeze the current price cap on Russian oil, which should be reviewed every six months at $44.1 per barrel. Against the backdrop of the Urals price rising amid the Middle East conflict, a price cap increase could ease Russian crude logistics further down the road. However, Russian oil prices are currently $40 higher than the EU ceiling, and Western shipowners continue to participate in its transportation.

The freeze may be included in the EU’s 21st package of anti-Russian sanctions. A European Commission official declined to comment. According to Bloomberg, a full ban on seaborne Russian oil supplies would also hardly be part of the EU’s 21st sanctions package.

Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University, explained to Kommersant that the price cap itself cannot affect Russian oil exports. However, if it is increased and the Russian oil price remains within its levels, this would increase competition between shadow and conventional tanker fleets, reduce freight costs and increase the windfall for Russia, something that, the expert argues, poses a problem to the Europeans and forces them to consider next steps.

Kirill Bakhtin, chief stock analyst at BCS World of Investments, noted that whether the price cap is $44.1 or $60-65 per barrel is not that important for Russian oil companies because the actual price is higher. According to Argus, as of May 22, a barrel of Urals traded between $84 and $85, depending on the port of loading. "The EU’s price cap is in itself a less effective instrument than the G7’s price cap, we believe," he added.

"If it is enough to monitor vessels entering ports in the case of a direct ban on oil and petroleum imports, hundreds and thousands of oil contracts should be monitored to control the price ceiling, which is impossible in technical terms," Open Oil Market CEO Sergy Teryoshkin explained to Kommersant. However, he noted, a temporary freeze of the price cap would indicate recognition that this measure is ineffective, which is why the EU is considering how to adjust this mechanism again. This will change little in the overall market situation, he maintained.

 

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Whether Kazakhstan can remove Iran’s uranium stockpile

Kazakhstan could play a key role in global nuclear security if it accepts Iran’s enriched uranium, a scenario that may be possible if the United States and Iran finalize a new agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. The potential move was discussed at a recent meeting between Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

Kazakhstan was selected for a reason, analysts argue. Apart from the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank, which has been managed by the former Soviet republic since 2017, the country has a unique status as it maintains trusted relations with both Washington - Kazakhstan has joined the Abraham Accords and Trump’s Board of Peace - and Tehran. The latter was confirmed by a large-scale humanitarian aid package that Astana sent to Iran in May - a 30-car train with food and medicines.

Not all experts are as upbeat about the initiative as Grossi, though. Derya Qarayev, who once coordinated a UN program on Central Asia, has serious doubts as to whether Iran’s enriched uranium can be stored in Kazakhstan. He highlighted substantial logistical and legal obstacles to that in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta. In this regard, Qarayev described Grossi’s proposal as "far-fetched," as he suggested that it could have been a political gesture towards Tokayev, possibly in response to the withdrawal of his candidacy for the post of UN Secretary General in favor of Grossi.

"The likelihood of Kazakhstan storing enriched Iranian uranium is unlikely to be assessed as high for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Iran’s consent to the transfer of its uranium anywhere would be needed. So far, the Iranian side has only discussed the possibility of transferring uranium to Russia, and these talks were confirmed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Tehran has made statements about the possibility of China taking the uranium, but there has been no official reaction from Beijing yet," Alexander Knyazev, leading expert with the Institute for International Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The expert noted that Iranian legislators have sharply criticized any concessions, and the issue of uranium is one of the most fundamental.

"Amid the overall uncertainty surrounding the Iran settlement and the precariousness of any possible format of agreements, the issue of uranium storage comes last on the long list of issues on which the Iranian side can make a decision," Knyazev emphasized. The expert also noted the relatively low level of trust toward the IAEA, so Grossi's statements cannot serve as any argument for Tehran, he added. "Astana's recent overly complimentary relations with Washington and Kazakhstan's rapprochement with the US and Israel are the very factors that make Kazakhstan's chances of becoming the custodian of Iranian uranium extremely minimal," Knyazev said.

 

Izvestia: CIA searching for alien genes in mass DNA tests

A debate has erupted in the United States over a secret program of intelligence services allegedly searching for extraterrestrial DNA in the databases of popular genetic services 23andMe and Ancestry. Most Russian scientists view such research as pure fantasy, but American astrophysicist Avi Loeb asserts that it has scientific value, as it could theoretically confirm hypotheses about humankind's extraterrestrial origins. US President Donald Trump, as he once pledged, has been gradually declassifying data from the Pentagon and other agencies on unidentified phenomena. Experts believe the politician is using the alien theme for entirely mundane purposes, such as diverting public attention from the war with Iran and raising his own approval ratings.

A Russian geneticist told Izvestia on conditions of anonymity that there have been precedents where special services used genetic research data for their own purposes or sought its results. "Ancestry and 23andMe have operated for over 15 years. They were established to identify genotype characteristics, say, to diagnose pathologies or find relatives. They may also pursue other goals that we are unaware of. Mass genetic screening could help identify a common ancestor of humans, which would help answer the question of human origins," he explained. However, the expert is unaware of any reliable cases of DNA detection that could be of extraterrestrial origin.

Pavel Volchkov, who heads a genomics laboratory at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, dismissed the idea of extraterrestrial DNA as totally unscientific. "Currently, data from genetic services is publicly unavailable, but it can be obtained upon request. But searching for alien genes there is like searching for mammoths. And this would be a more realistic option because it's a life form closer to humans," he said.

While the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has been key on the US political agenda, notably "the alien issue" emerged amid Trump’s falling approval rating because of the Iran war. Elections to Congress will be held as early as November, and the GOP’s chances of winning are slim. Trump is naturally trying to boost his rating, including by using "cheap" methods, Konstantin Blokhin, leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Security Studies, told Izvestia. Overall, the topic of aliens could become a convenient tool for the US to manage public attention amid internal crises and declining trust in the elites.

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