Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have held a lengthy phone call to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East and Ukraine peace talks.

Former Vice President Mike Pence talks with Dana Bash about the recent escalating attacks between Israel and Iran.

Trump, who turned 79, said: "President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran."

Trump has generally veered away from overtly criticizing Putin while openly berating Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, but has repeatedly condemned Russia's lethal airstrikes and floated that the Kremlin could be "tapping us along."

Smirnova, the director of the Narva museum that is housed in the fortress, has defiantly hung from the battlements a large banner of Putin’s face, with the words “war criminal” below it. In January this year a court in Moscow issued an arrest warrant for Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova on the charge of spreading false information.

The statement said Putin, in his conversation with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu "stressed the importance of a return to the process of talks and resolution of all issues concerning Iran's nuclear programme strictly through political and diplomatic means". The Kremlin statement said Russia would remain in close contact with both Iran and Israel.

The Russian leader briefed Trump on his recent talks with officials in Iran and Israel, and reiterated Moscow's proposal to seek mutual solutions on the Iranian nuclear issue.

Just over a year ago, plans were revealed for a massive tunnel complex and an ultra-secure bunker located nearly 50 meters underground beneath Vladimir Putin’s lavish palace on the Black Sea coast. This underground refuge was designed to protect the Russian president in case of a foreign attack—or even a revolution at home.