President Donald Trump revealed on June 4 that he had another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s posting on Truth Social was cryptic on the content of the 75-minute conversation, but the bottom line was that peace between Ukraine and Russia is not right around the corner. The phone call came just days after the Kremlin suffered a devastating and embarrassing loss of strategic aircraft in what was an enormous intelligence failure.
Trump’s Call to Putin Won’t Bring Peace
Trump’s call with Putin immediately after Ukraine’s surprise drone attack that, by some estimates, destroyed or damaged over 30% of Russia’s strategic nuclear bomber fleet did not find a cordial Kremlin chief executive. In a Truth Social post, Trump explained: “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.” And respond he did. Russia launched a massive wave of drone and missile attacks across Ukraine on Thursday night. Friday night then saw the war's biggest drone attack yet on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv. In two days, at least six people were killed and more than 100 injured by the hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.
The question is whether Putin’s almost maniacal fixation on conquering Ukraine has any potential of coming true. President Trump doesn’t think it does. But neither does Trump believe that President Volodymyr Zelensky has a prayer of recovering all the territory lost to Russia since the February 2022 invasion. Short of capturing all of Ukraine, Putin is more likely to believe he can continue the war in hopes that the campaign will force greater concessions from NATO, the other Europeans, and America. In a recent Daily Signal opinion piece, Victor Davis Hanson wrote:
“So, I think what Vladimir Putin thinks is that he’s going to continue the war, continue the terror campaign, get greater concessions from the Europeans, the Americans, and the Ukrainians, and move the battle lines a little bit to the West. And I think he’s sorely mistaken. He’s misreading Donald Trump.”
The second part of Trump’s conversation with Putin concerned US negotiations with Iran. “We also discussed Iran and the fact that time is running out on Iran’s decision pertaining to nuclear weapons,” the US president posted. He emphasized that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon, and Putin’s response suggested that the Russians agreed. Then, Putin offered to get personally involved in the negotiations with Iran, believing his participation might be “helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,” Trump’s post said. However, Putin’s offer raises another question: How can Russia, with its close, almost symbiotic relationship with Tehran, support US equities in any nuclear negotiations? As The Daily Caller pointed out, “Russia maintains close, if not complex, relations with Iran, with Western sanctions bringing the two nations closer together since the start of the Ukraine war. Iran has aided Russia in prosecuting the war in Ukraine, as Tehran sent a stock of missiles to the front in exchange for Russian fighter jets in 2024.”
Russia Helped With the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal
We do remember that Russia was an influential part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which President Trump repudiated and from which he withdrew the United States during his first term. And many of the flaws implicit in the JCPOA, other than just getting a nuclear weapon, are still on the table. Iran must reject being the number-one state sponsor of terrorism, must stop its support of terrorist proxies across the Middle East, and must stop its support of Houthi terrorist rebels in Yemen. Russia has been a silent partner in many of these terrorist endeavors, and it’s hard to see how Moscow could be a force for good in the current US-Iran nuclear talks.
Frank, open discussions between adversaries are valuable. Trump’s characterization of the phone chat as “a good conversation,” but one that would not raise any hope of an immediate breakthrough in negotiations on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, was realistic. Putin’s offer to be a consigliere in the talks with Iran, on the other hand, is curious.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
