On Saturday, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a 50-minute phone conversation focused on escalating tensions in the Middle East. The conversation, which took place on Trump’s 79th birthday, was mostly about the Israeli-Iranian conflict.
President Putin phoned this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday very nicely, but to more importantly discuss Iran, a nation he knows so well,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He feels, as do I, that this war in Israel-Iran must end, to which I explained, his war must end as well.
Trump explained that he made the call to pressure Putin into stopping Russia’s war in Ukraine too, a report by Xinhua said.
Putin, Trump set sights on Middle East escalation
Both leaders had a “substantive, sincere and very useful” conversation, the Kremlin said.
Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, “The conversation lasted for 50 minutes. it was focused on the dangerous exacerbation of the situation in the Middle East.”
Putin denounced Israel’s recent attacks on Iran, threatening possible “unpredictable consequences” for the region. Ushakov cited Putin’s serious concern over increasing instability.
In the meantime, Trump first complimented the Israeli operation as “excellent” and “very successful.” In a subsequent Truth Social tweet, he stated that Iran’s hardliners “are all DEAD now,” calling on Tehran to sign a new nuclear agreement “before it’s too late.
Discussions of Ukraine and prisoner exchanges came up
Trump admitted that the issue of Israel-Iran overshadowed the call. “We spoke for a long time. Much less time was devoted to speaking about Russia/Ukraine, but next week will be that week,” Trump penned. He also made mention of continued prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine. “He (Putin) is doing the scheduled prisoner exchanges — big groups of prisoners are being swapped, right away, from both sides,” Trump added.
Iran nuclear talks stall with Israeli operation
Even though they have varying perspectives on the Israeli attack, Trump and Putin both seem willing to restart talks with Iran. According to Trump, US negotiators are prepared to negotiate, but recent events derailed the talks.
Iran allegedly withdrew from Sunday’s US-Iran nuclear talks that were scheduled to take place in Muscat, Oman. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi confirmed the talks’ cancellation on X, naming increased tensions after Israel’s launch of ‘Operation Rising Lion’.
