WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a phone call Wednesday, renewed his offer for Russia to serve as a third country that could deal with Iran's 970 pounds of enriched uranium that the US leader is demanding Tehran must surrender.

“He told me he'd like to be involved with the enrichment — if he can help us get it,” Trump said Putin told him. “I said, I'd much rather have you be involved with ending the war with Ukraine.' To me, that would be more important.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin warned of dire consequences' if hostilities against Iran resume.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran war in a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, with the Kremlin stressing the “dire consequences” if hostilities resumed.

Speaking to journalists, presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin had told the US president that a ground operation on Iranian territory would be completely “unacceptable and dangerous.”