The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said he spoke with the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday about Ukraine and Iran, warning that the Kremlin leader had committed “very strongly” to respond to the impressive kyiv drones attack against Russian bombers.
Trump said there was no “immediate peace” on the horizon in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022, after what he described as a call of one hour and 15 minutes with the Russian president.
In Iran, Trump said Putin had offered “participating” in conversations about Tehran’s nuclear program, since Trump accused the Islamic Republic of “slow” his response to the offer of a Washington agreement.
The call occurred three days after Ukraine made a massive and daring drone attack against Russian military air bases, saying that he had destroyed several bombers with Russian nuclear capacity worth bills of dollars.
Trump said he and Putin had “discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine and also several other attacks that have taken place on both parties.”
“It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace. President Putin said, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said in his position.
Trump did not say if he had warned Putin of such reprisal against Ukraine, what Washington has supported billions of dollars in his fight against Russia.
‘Definitive answer’
The Republican has repeatedly alarmed kyiv and Western allies apparently on the Putin side about the war, and had a row of the Oval office with the Ukrainian Visitor President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Trump has also demonstrated a growing frustration with Putin, since Russia has so far deranged the efforts of the president of the United States to honor a campaign promise to end war within 24 hours, even if he never explained how this could be achieved.
However, the call between Trump and Putin showed that Washington and Moscow may be watching cooperation on another key global theme: Iran.
Trump said he believed that both agreed “that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and that time was exhausted so that Tehran responds to the offers of an agreement.
“President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be useful to get this to reach a rapid conclusion,” Trump said.
The president of the United States added: “It is my opinion that Iran has been slowly walking for his decision on this important matter, and we will need a definitive response in a very short period of time!”
Putin told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Peeshkian that Moscow was ready to help advance the conversations about a nuclear agreement, Kremlin said Tuesday.
But Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatolá Ali Khamenei, said Washington’s proposal today was against Tehran’s national interest, amid strong differences on whether Tehran can continue enriching Uranium.