Obama calls Merkel to discuss Iran and Ukraine

Press Trust of India

Washington, 16 July: US President Barack Obama has called German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the current Ukraine situation and the progress made in negotiations with Iran and its nuclear program.

According to the White House the two leaders reiterated that Russia must take immediate steps to de-escalate situation in eastern Ukraine amid the ongoing violence by supporting a bilateral ceasefire.

They said Russia must prepare a roadmap for talks under the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)-mediated contact group, establish an OSCE border monitoring mechanism, urge separatists to release all hostages they hold and end the flow of heavy weapons, equipment, and fighters to separatists.

Both the leaders agreed that to date neither Germany nor the USA had seen Russia fulfil these required actions as they reaffirmed their commitment to work together with other allies to ensure the USA and Europe remained closely coordinated on measures to impose costs on Russia and to continue to support Ukraine's long-term stability and prosperity, the White House said yesterday.

“On P5+1 talks with Iran, the two leaders reviewed the progress that has been made in the negotiations, while noting that important gaps still remain. They agreed it is imperative that Iran take the necessary steps to assure the international community that its nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful,” the White House said.

“The President and the Chancellor also exchanged views on US-German intelligence cooperation, and the President said he'd remain in close communication on ways to improve cooperation going forward,” the statement said.