US, Russia, and Iran Interacting Frequently Amid Diplomacy and War Prep in Mideast

Daily News

Summary:

Trump spoke on the phone with Putin and held telephone talks with Iran...

News Roundup

1. Trump says negotiations with Iran are taking place over the phone

2. Iran says its negotiating team is doing its utmost to pursue diplomatic mediation in accordance with the Supreme Leader’s instructions

3. Israeli Ministry of Defence urges defence firms to speed up weapons production

4. Putin and Trump hold a one-and-a-half-hour telephone conversation covering a wide range of issues

5. US military plans to deploy ‘Dark Eagle’ hypersonic missiles to the Middle East, targeting deep-seated targets in Iran

News Details

Trump says negotiations with Iran are taking place over the phone

US President Trump stated on the 29th that the US and Iran are currently negotiating over the phone, whilst emphasising that Iran must make a clear commitment to completely abandon nuclear weapons.

Speaking to the media in the Oval Office at the White House that day, Trump said that the US and Iran had been in dialogue all along and were now communicating by telephone, “no longer as before, where we had to fly 18 hours to a meeting every time we wanted to look at a document”. He said this method was very convenient: “I make a phone call, or have someone make one, and I get an answer within 15 minutes”, but “I have always preferred face-to-face communication”.

Trump said that some progress had been made in the negotiations so far, but the question was whether the concessions made by the Iranian side would meet US demands. “For the time being, unless they explicitly commit to completely abandoning nuclear weapons, there is absolutely no possibility of reaching any agreement between the two sides.”

Iran says its negotiating team is doing its utmost to pursue diplomatic mediation in accordance with the Supreme Leader’s instructions

On 29 [local time], the Assembly of Experts—Iran’s supreme governing body responsible for electing, supervising and removing the Supreme Leader—stated that the negotiating team is working in accordance with the Supreme Leader’s orders and instructions, and is doing its utmost to pursue diplomatic mediation.

Israeli Ministry of Defence Urges Defence Firms to Speed Up Weapons Production

On 29 April local time, Amir Baram, Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, stated at a meeting with the heads of the country’s major defence firms that Israel is in a “state of prolonged emergency” and must accelerate weapons production to achieve greater self-sufficiency.

On the same day, executives from several major Israeli defence firms, including Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems, attended the meeting, which aimed to assess procurement capabilities and preparedness for potential war scenarios. During the meeting, Baram urged the companies to further increase weapons production, citing instructions from Defence Minister Katz to strengthen current combat readiness whilst advancing Israel’s “long-term production independence”.

Baram also stated that the Ministry of Defence is working to reduce outstanding debts owed to defence companies. It is reported that these debts stem from budgetary shortfalls within the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Putin and Trump spoke on the phone for an hour and a half, covering a wide range of issues

On the evening of the 29th, Yury Ushakov, an aide to the Russian President, reported that President Putin and US President Trump had held a telephone conversation that day, during which the two sides exchanged views on issues including the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the situation in Iran and the Ukraine crisis. According to Ushakov, at the start of the call, Putin strongly condemned the recent attempted assassination of Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and expressed his support for Trump.

During the call, Putin briefed Trump on the progress of Russia’s special military operation and stated that Russia was prepared to announce a ceasefire during Victory Day celebrations. Trump expressed his support for this. Putin stated that since the beginning of 2025, Russia had handed over more than 20,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine, but had received only just over 500 bodies of Russian soldiers from the Ukrainian side. Putin also said that the established objectives of the special military operation would certainly be achieved, but that Russia preferred to achieve these objectives through negotiations. He believed that it was the Ukrainian side that was artificially prolonging the conflict.

Putin considered Trump’s decision to extend the ceasefire in Iran and the surrounding region to be correct, stating that this would help stabilise the situation. Putin also stated that the option of launching ground military operations against Iran was completely unacceptable and extremely dangerous. Ushakov said that the call had been initiated by the Russian side, lasted over an hour and a half, and that the dialogue between the two sides had been “candid and pragmatic”.

US military plans to deploy ‘Dark Eagle’ hypersonic missiles to the Middle East, targeting deep-seated targets in Iran

According to foreign media reports, US Central Command has submitted a request to the Army to deploy ‘Dark Eagle’ hypersonic missiles to the Middle East in preparation for potential strikes against Iran.

US Central Command seeks a system with a longer range to enable strikes against ballistic missile launchers deep within Iranian territory. The application states that the deployment of this missile is necessitated by the fact that Iran’s launchers lie beyond the range of ‘precision-strike missiles’.

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