China and Russia positioning themselves as voices of reason, calling for de-escalation of a conflict the United States is contemplating on entering — these are the optics Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sought to project during a phone call on Thursday.

Trump's remarks come after Putin, during his meeting with senior news leaders of international news agencies in St. Petersburg, said that Russia had shared proposals with Israel, Iran and the United States to de-escalate the situation in the West Asia region.