Washington, Oct 22 — US President Donald Trump has said Russia released American Stephen Hubbard after he asked President Vladimir Putin in a phone call, insisting Washington "gave nothing in exchange", and praised Moscow and Beijing for largely staying out of the Iran conflict.
"I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way, maybe now, the closest we've been. But I mentioned, could you let Stephen Hubbard out, please? And he agreed to do it," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, in a question session after a roundtable on cybercrime and scams.
"So he was met today in Russia, and he's on his way back. He's on a flight. Steve Witkoff is with him. His family is with him," Trump said, referring to his special envoy.
"We gave nothing in exchange, which is very rare. We never give anything in exchange," he said. "Once you give, you'll end up quadrupling the problem."
"I spoke to him this morning. He is the happiest man around," Trump said, adding that Hubbard's family "didn't think he'd come out for 20, 25 years".
Asked about a description of the release as humanitarian, Trump said, "You mean Steve Witkoff said he was humanitarian? Yes. Well, I guess you could say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out, but I wouldn't say anything one way or the other."
Trump said he had resisted pressure for tougher steps on Moscow. "If we did what these foolish people wanted me to do, he wouldn't be coming out right now. He'd be in there for another 20 years," he said. "The last thing I want to do is upset an apple cart where we're getting close to settling a war."
He did not say what action critics had sought.
Turning to Iran, Trump said, "We've taken Iran down to levels that they've never seen before. They're very low. Their military is completely gone."
"Their anti-aircraft -- just about everything is gone, including their economy. The only thing not gone is inflation. They have 301 per cent as of this morning," he said.
"And frankly, their leaders are gone. The first set of leaders are gone. The second set of leaders are gone. Parts of the third set of leaders are gone," he said.
He welcomed what he called the restraint of Russia and China. "A very important element is the fact that Russia and China have not participated, or participated in a much smaller way than they could have. So I am very happy about that," Trump said.
"And likewise China, and as you know, President Xi was here a week ago; likewise, China could have participated a lot more. There's relatively little participation," he said.
"The fact is both of them would like to see the war settled," Trump said. "So we're in the process of doing that with Russia. And we have China also that's involved."
He did not say which war he meant in that line or what role Beijing was playing.