Bangladesh, June 15 -- In a surprise development amid intensifying Middle Eastern and Eastern European crises, US President Donald Trump revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally called him on June 14 to wish him a happy 79th birthday and to discuss urgent geopolitical matters, chiefly the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as the war in Ukraine. The hour-long phone conversation, as confirmed by both Trump and the Kremlin, offered a rare window into continued high-level engagement between two of the worlds most polarizing political figures.

According to a post Trump made on Truth Social, the president emphasized that the main topic of discussion was Iran, which he said Putin “knows very well.” T...