U.S. President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday to rebuff Vladimir Putin's offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own war in Ukraine first.
"He actually offered to help mediate, I said 'Do me a favor, mediate your own. Let's mediate Russia first, okay?'" Trump told reporters at the White House. "I said 'Vladimir, let's mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later'."
The Russian president has pitched himself as a possible mediator in the deadly air war in the Middle East — though Moscow's closeness to Iran and Russia's invasion of Ukraine raise doubts about what kind of role he can play, experts say.
Trump spent his first few months in office attempting to broker an end to Russia's more-than-three-year war in Ukraine, but the diplomatic efforts have stalled after Putin refused to agree to a ceasefire and doubled down on his maximalist conditions for peace.
AFP contributed reporting.
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