Trump hints at long-awaited US hostage release, says Russia did little to help Iran
“Well, you’ll see soon enough, because I’m trying to get a hostage that the country’s been after for a long time, and before my time,” Trump said when asked what assurances Putin had given that he wanted to reach a deal. Trump’s remarks followed his statement on Sunday that negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict were making “great progress”. “Anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not”, he said. When China does not that much, maybe nothing almost, but very little for Iran, and Russia does very little for Iran, I view that as being a very positive thing”, he said. Defending the broader negotiations, Trump said Washington was also discussing energy supplies and pipelines with Moscow, warning that he could withdraw from the process if the talks failed to deliver results.
US president Donald Trump has hinted at a possible breakthrough in efforts to secure the release of an American hostage held in Russia. He also defended his decision to keep diplomatic negotiations with Russian president Vladimir Putin open on Ukraine, Iran, energy pipelines and hostages. “And let’s see what happens, that’ll be—that’ll be soon. He defended his approach towards Moscow, arguing that imposing further penalties could undermine ongoing talks. “Russia could have done a lot more to help, if you put it bluntly, Russia could have done a lot more to help Iran. Russia has done very little for Iran, and China could have done a lot more for Iran. They’ve done, and I remember that.
Earlier, Trump had signaled that he was willing to hold a high-stakes trilateral meeting with Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine and pursuing global denuclearisation, even if Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was excluded from the negotiations. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Monday (local time), Trump said he was seeking the release of a hostage whose case had remained unresolved for years, suggesting that progress could emerge soon.