Trump: The war between Israel and Iran should end
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President Trump returns to the White House on June 9 following a Camp David meeting with senior administration members. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Trump said after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that the war between Israel and Iran needs to end.
Why it matters: Trump's call for ending the war comes less than 48 hours after Israel launched its attacks against Iran and shows the amount of concern at the White House from the escalating fighting.
What he's saying: "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. He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Driving the news: The nuclear talks planned for Sunday in Muscat have been cancelled due to the Israeli attack against Iran, the foreign minister of Oman Badr al-Busaidi said.
- "While there will be no meeting Sunday, we remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon," a U.S. official said.
- The fighting between Israel and Iran continued to escalate on Saturday with Israel saying the Israel Defense Forces have achieved full freedom of operation in the airspace around Iran's capital Tehran.
- The White House is concerned about the escalation and is trying to press the Iranians to go back to the negotiations table.
- "Whatever happens today cannot be prevented. 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," a White House official told Axios.
State of play: Trump told Putin in their phone call on Saturday that White House envoy Steve Witkoff is ready to resume nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister, the Russian president's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
- Putin, in previous phone calls, proposed that Trump help in the nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Context: The current crisis between Israel and Iran will be a test case for Trump's strategy of mending relations between the U.S. and Russia in order to solve crisis around the world together.
- Trump and Putin both spoke on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Putin spoke to Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.
- Putin told both Netanyahu and Pezeshkian that he is ready to mediate between the parties to prevent further escalation of tensions, the Kremlin said.
- Trump also spoke on Saturday with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the war between Israel and Iran. Erdogan said he told Trump that an uncontrolled escalation in the region must be prevented.
Behind the scenes: Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Saturday that Iran will not continue its negotiations with the U.S. as long as the Israeli attack on Iran continues.
- He claimed the U.S. directly supports the Israeli strikes, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
- But two sources with direct knowledge said Araghchi told several foreign ministers in the last 36 hours that Iran will be willing to resume negotiations with the U.S. once its retaliation for the Israeli attack is over.
The bottom line: Putin told Trump in their 50-minute call that Russia is ready to continue direct negotiations with Ukraine after June 22, Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
- Trump said he asked Putin to end the war in Ukraine and noted that Russia and Ukraine are moving forward with a large prisoner swap.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional statements, context and details throughout.
