Putin Says Iran Never Built Nuclear Weapon and IAEA Has No Evidence of Ambitions
"The Iranians are not building a nuclear weapon. Everyone says they have ambitions, but they don't have any ambitions. There's even a fatwa against them building a nuclear weapon. The IAEA, the inspection organization, has never stated, never stated that it possesses evidence showing Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons."
About this episode
On this May 11, 2026 episode of Judging Freedom, host Judge Andrew Napolitano interviewed former CIA analyst Ray McGovern about Vladimir Putin's recent post-Victory Day press conference and its implications for US-Russia relations, the Iran crisis, and the Ukraine war. McGovern revealed previously undisclosed details from Putin's remarks, most notably that Israel had initially agreed in JCPOA negotiations to let Russia reprocess Iranian enriched uranium before the US reversed course overnight, allegedly under Netanyahu's influence. The most significant operational disclosure was Putin's explicit confirmation that President Trump personally intervened to prevent Ukraine from attacking Moscow's Red Square parade on May 9th, demonstrating Trump retains decisive leverage over Zelensky despite European opposition. McGovern also relayed Putin's account that the April 2022 Ukraine peace deal, already initialed by both parties, was deliberately sabotaged first by Macron's demands and then by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's direct intervention after Russia had withdrawn troops from Kyiv as requested. On Iran, Putin categorically denied Iranian nuclear weapons ambitions, citing the Supreme Leader's fatwa and stating the IAEA has never found evidence of a weapons program, directly contradicting the Trump-Netanyahu justification for their February 2025 strikes. Putin warned that a ground invasion of Iran would be 'completely unacceptable' to Russia, using the strongest possible diplomatic language. McGovern argued that Putin and Xi Jinping are coordinating to offer Trump an off-ramp on Iran, proposing a return to Russian reprocessing of enriched uranium as a face-saving 'trophy' for Trump. The episode portrayed Trump as caught between Putin-Xi pressure for de-escalation and Zionist advisors pushing continued confrontation, while European leaders like Germany's Merz and France's Macron are marginalized due to sub-20% approval ratings and lack of US backing after the effective US withdrawal from NATO.
Key takeaways
- Putin revealed Israel initially agreed to Russia reprocessing Iranian uranium in JCPOA talks before the US reversed course the next day.
- Trump directly ordered Zelensky not to strike Moscow's May 9th Victory Day parade and Ukraine complied, per explicit Russian confirmation.
- Putin disclosed that Boris Johnson personally killed the April 2022 Ukraine peace deal after Russia withdrew from Kyiv at Macron's request.
- Putin stated Iran is not building nuclear weapons and the IAEA has never found evidence of such ambitions, contradicting US-Israeli war rationale.
- Russia declared a ground invasion of Iran 'completely unacceptable' in the strongest diplomatic terms, with Putin leaving military response options deliberately ambiguous.
- McGovern argued Putin and Xi are coordinating to offer Trump an Iran off-ramp involving Russian reprocessing of enriched uranium as a face-saving trophy.
- European leaders including Merz, Macron and Starmer have sub-20% approval ratings and are marginalized after effective US withdrawal from NATO.