President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday over the phone for 50 minutes, where the two leaders discussed the Israel-Iran conflict and negotiations to end the three-year war in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
Putin told Trump about his Friday conversations with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, the “importance of preventing the escalation” in the Middle East and that Russia is ready to carry out mediation efforts if needed, according to Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov.
Trump, according to Ushakov, “assessed” the situation in the Middle East as “very alarming” and “acknowledged the effectiveness” of Israel’s strikes on Iran that have resulted in the killing of a number of Tehran’s military leaders and dozens of nuclear scientists.
Trump confirmed that the two presidents mostly talked about the back-and-forth between Israel and Iran but also touched on the developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week,” Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social, adding that Putin “feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.”
Trump expressed his willingness to continue negotiations with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was slated to speak with his counterpart, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, on Sunday in Muscat, Oman, marking the sixth round of discussions between the two sides. After Israeli strikes, which began Thursday night, Iranian officials pulled out of the talks.
The meeting will not take place on Sunday, a senior U.S. administration official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic talks.
The official added that the administration remains “committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon.”
A senior White House official told The Hill’s sister network NewsNation that “we have the ability to negotiate a successful peaceful resolution to this conflict if Iran is willing.”
“The fastest way for Iran to accomplish peace is to give up its nuclear weapons program,” the official added on Saturday.
Putin also spoke to Trump about the implementation of the agreements reached between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations during their meeting on June 2 in Turkey, according to Ushakov.
Ushakov added that the Kremlin is ready to continue talks with Ukraine and that Trump expressed his willingness to end the largest land war in Europe since World War II.
Trump said on Saturday that Putin is “doing the planned prisoner swaps – large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides” and added that the conversation lasted “approximately 1 hour.”
Trump wrote that Putin “very nicely” wished him a happy birthday.
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