Key Points
- Putin, Trump voice concern about recent escalation in Middle East
- Moscow eager to act as a mediator between Israel and Iran
- Russia ready to continue talks with Ukraine
- Israel warns of more attacks on Iran
MMOSCOW, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, along with efforts to end the war in Ukraine, during a phone call with US President Donald Trump, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
This marked the fifth call between the two leaders as part of ongoing efforts to reset bilateral relations—signalling a sharp departure from the approach taken by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“The dangerous escalation in the Middle East was, of course, at the centre of the exchange,” the Kremlin said, after Israel on Friday launched a major attack on Iran, prompting Iran to launch strikes at Israel in return.
The Russian president expressed Moscow’s readiness to act as a mediator between Israel and Iran, the statement added.
Both Putin and Trump expressed concern about the recent escalation in the Middle East, but both still “did not rule out a return to negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme”, according to the statement.
Russia-Ukraine talks
It said Putin also informed Trump about the “implementation of the agreements reached at the meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on June 2”.
The Russian leader told his US counterpart that Russia was ready to continue negotiations with Ukraine after June 22, while Trump acknowledged this and “reiterated his interest in the swift resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict”, the Kremlin added.
Putin also congratulated Trump on his birthday, and both leaders mentioned the “brotherhood in arms” between Russia and the United States during World War Two.
Earlier today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, affirmed Moscow’s readiness to de-escalate the conflict between Iran and Israel.
“The readiness was confirmed to continue facilitating efforts on settling the situation around Iran’s nuclear programme as well as on de-escalating the conflict between Iran and Israel,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Operation True Promise 3”
Iranian state media reported that a new wave of missiles was launched Saturday morning, shortly after the Israeli military confirmed it had detected incoming projectiles from Iran.
General Ahmad Vahidi, a senior Iranian military official, said the operation—labelled “Operation True Promise 3”—would continue “as long as necessary,” according to the official news agency IRNA.
Israel warns of more attacks on Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Israel’s strikes had pushed back Iran’s nuclear programme possibly by years, but rejected international calls for restraint, saying the attack would be intensified.
“We will hit every site and every target in Iran, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said in a video message.
Iran claims to shoot down Israeli Drone in Tabriz
Meanwhile, Iran has announced the shooting down of an Israeli drone near Iran’s northwestern city of Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province.
Amid the strikes of the Zionist regime on Iran, an Israeli drone was detected and shot down in the vicinity of Iran’s northwestern city of Tabriz, the head of the crisis management department for Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, Majid Farshi, said on Saturday.
