Putin puts forward ideas on Iran in call with Trump, Kremlin says

MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a phone call on Wednesday in which the Russian leader put forward ideas on resolving the conflict over Iran’s nuclear programme, a Kremlin aide said.

Putin also proposed a repeat of a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine to mark the anniversary of the end of World War Two next month, the aide said. Putin announced a similar truce last year which lasted three days but was not agreed with Kyiv.

The phone call was the first publicly announced conversation between the two leaders since March 9, nine days after the US and Israel launched a war with Iran.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov gave no details on what proposals Putin had made on Iran, but he said any resumption of hostilities in the Middle East would “inevitably have extremely harmful consequences” and was in no one’s interest.

“Russia is firmly committed to providing full support for diplomatic efforts to seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis and has offered a number of considerations aimed at resolving disagreements over Iran’s nuclear programme,” Ushakov told reporters after the two leaders’ conversation.

Also read: Russia calls for ‘political’ settlement over Iran as Trump says US talking to Tehran

Russia had previously offered to take Iran’s stock of enriched uranium out of the country.

Ushakov said Russia would maintain contact with Iran, with which it has a “strategic partnership”, as well as with Gulf states and Israel to ensure there would not be a resumption of hostilities in the region.

He said the telephone call lasted more than an hour and a half and was “conducted in a friendly manner, candid and business-like”.

On the Ukraine conflict, Ushakov told reporters that Putin had proposed the temporary ceasefire for celebrations on May 9 to mark the Soviet Union’s part in the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two.

“Trump actively supported this initiative, noting that the holiday marks our common victory over Nazism in World War Two,” he said.

He added: “Donald Trump believes that a deal to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine is already close.”

He said Putin told the US president that Russian forces in Ukraine “hold the strategic initiative and are pressing on enemy positions”.

Putin, Ushakov said, “clearly said that Kyiv was resorting to openly terrorist methods by attacking civilian sites on Russian territory,” a reference to frequent Ukrainian strikes on areas from its borders, particularly in the oil sector.