New Delhi, June 14 -- MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to dial the White House on Sunday, reaching Donald Trump before any head of state in Europe or Asia managed to extend a birthday greeting. The Russian president was calling to mark Trump's 80th birthday, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. But what followed the pleasantries went straight to the fault lines of a war that 13 phone calls between the two men have so far failed to end.

The call lasted 55 minutes by the Kremlin's count, described by Ushakov as "friendly and frank" and "not without a grain of humor." Trump, writing afterward on Truth Social, put the duration at roughly an hour. He said he and Putin spent most of the time talking about Iran - where Is...