US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held an hour-long phone call to discuss the escalating Iran-Israel crisis.
They both agreed that the conflict should end
Trump gave details of the phone call in a post on Truth Social.
He wrote: “President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well…
“We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week. He is doing the planned prisoner swaps – large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides. 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.”
InfoWars reports: According to Axios, Israel has asked the US to help it destroy Iran’s nuclear program, in large part because it lacks the bunker-buster bombs and large bomber aircraft required to destroy Iran’s Fordow uranium-enrichment facility.
But so far White House officials have denied any US interest in joining Israeli strikes; although they did confirm Israel’s request.
A senior White House official on Saturday said, “whatever happens today cannot be prevented,” in reference to continuing Israeli attacks on Iran, but stressed that a peaceful resolution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions had to be found.
“But 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.
The latest round of US talks with Iran have been cancelled, but the US is “not shutting the door to future discussions.”
Although Prime Minister Netanyahu has said the operation to eliminate Iran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile capabilities will take a matter of days, other Israeli officials have said the operation could last weeks.
Israel and Iran have continued to exchange attacks. Iranian state television reported that 20 children were among 60 killed in an Israeli attack on a neighbourhood in the capital Teheran, on Saturday.