The presidents of the United States and Russia spoke by phone for an hour.
President Donald Trump stated that Vladimir Putin of Russia wished him a happy birthday during their phone conversation on Saturday.
Trump shared details of the call on his Truth Social platform shortly afterward.
“President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but more importantly, to talk about Iran, a country he knows very well. We talked at length,” Trump, who turned 79 on Saturday, posted.
He noted that they spent “much less time” discussing the conflict in Ukraine, adding that this topic “will be for next week.” “The call lasted approximately 1 hour. He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end,” Trump wrote.
According to Yuri Ushakov, a Russian presidential aide, the discussion between Putin and Trump was “meaningful, frank, and most importantly, very useful.” Putin reportedly criticized Israel’s strikes on Iran, pointing out their timing just before the planned sixth round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, initially scheduled for June 15.
“Despite such a complicated situation, the Russian and American presidents didn’t rule out a return to the negotiating track on the Iranian nuclear program,” Ushakov added.
The presidential aide also confirmed Putin’s birthday greetings to Trump, adding that both leaders have “expressed their satisfaction with the personal relationships that allow [them] to communicate in a businesslike manner” and to “seek solutions to pressing issues on the bilateral and international agenda, no matter how complex these issues may be.”
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