President Donald Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin According to the White House, it is synchronized in Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons.
The White House said Trump and Putin spoke on the phone on Tuesday morning about how to end the Ukrainian war, and they agreed Iran would not have the opportunity to allow Tehran to eliminate Israeli weapons.
“The leaders spoke extensively about the Middle East as a potential cooperation area to prevent future conflicts,” the White House said in a statement after the call. “They further discussed the need to stop the spread of strategic weapons and would interact with others to ensure the widest application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never destroy Israel.”
Trump resumes ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked on the phone on March 18, 2025 about how to end the war in Ukraine. (Contributor/Rebecca Noble/Getty Image)
Meanwhile, Russia urged the United States to abandon sanctions on Iran, which paralyzed Tehran’s economy. According to a statement from the three countries, representatives from Russia met with their counterparts in Beijing with China and Iran and urged the United States to withdraw “illegal” sanctions and resume nuclear discussions.
“The three countries reaffirm that political and diplomatic participation and dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect remains the only viable and practical option in this regard,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister, loudly announced in a joint statement on Friday.
Russia maintained a comfortable relationship with Iran and used Iranian drones in the war with Ukraine. For example, Russia began adopting Iran-made Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 series drones in 2022 to reach Ukraine’s artillery targets and Ukraine’s power distribution grid areas.
The Defense Intelligence Agency also released a report in 2023 detailing how Iran gives Russia the opportunity to “hundreds” of one-way attacks on air drones. Although Iran denies that the drone originated in Tehran, the Defense Intelligence Agency said it obtained debris from the Ukrainian attack, “apparently demonstrating Iran’s support for Russia.”
Trump warned in February that he believed Iran was “close to develop nuclear weapons” and that his administration resumed the maximum pressure on Iran with sanctions on February’s Iranian oil exports campaign.
In addition, Trump revealed that the nuclear deal with Iran may appear in the near future on March 7, and he wrote a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging Tehran to agree to a nuclear deal.
Trump says “things will happen soon” when Iran pushes for negotiation of a nuclear deal
President Donald Trump said he recently sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging Iran to agree to the nuclear deal. (Iran’s Supreme Leader/WANA (Western Asia News Agency)/By Reuters/Elizabeth Franz/Handout of archive photos)
Failure to do so could mean military intervention, he said.
“I would rather negotiate a deal. I’m not sure everyone agrees with me, but we can make a deal, just like you win the military,” Trump told Fox Business in an interview on March 9.
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“But now it’s time, it’s time,” he said. “Something will happen one way or another. I hope Iran, I wrote them a letter saying I hope you can negotiate because if we have to go military, it will be a terrible thing for them.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
