Iran: Prez turned down a meeting with Trump

Abu Dhabi, Oct. 30: Iran is fulfilling its commitments under the nuclear deal with world powers and UN inspectors are facing no problems in their verification efforts, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general said on Monday.

US President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he would not continue to certify the multinational 2015 agreement, reached under his predecessor Barack Obama, and warned that he might ultimately terminate it.

Iran would abandon the agreement if it were deemed not be serving its national interests, President Hassan Rouhani said in reaction to Trump’s decision.

But he also said, “No president can revoke an international deal...(and) Iran will continue to honour its commitments under the deal.”

The other parties to the accord - Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and the European Union have all reaffirmed their commitment to it and urged the United States not to back out.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, whose inspectors are tasked with monitoring compliance with the deal, reiterated that Iran was adhering to it.

“The IAEA can state that such nuclear-related commitments are being implemented,” Amano told a news conference in Abu Dhabi following a trip to Iran on Sunday where he met with Rouhani and other officials. Tehran, Oct 30: Iran’s foreign ministry says that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani turned down a meeting with President Donald Trump during his visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The Sunday report by the semi-official ILNA news agency quotes ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying “an intention was expressed by the American side that was not approved by President Rouhani,” in reference to the alleged meeting request. In 2013, then US President Barack Obama and Rouhani spoke by telephone, the highest-level contact between the two countries in decades, prompting an outcry.

“I requested that Iran ... fully implement the nuclear-related commitments. This (was) the main thrust of the meeting in Iran ... Regarding the activities of our inspectors, they are discharging their responsibility without problem," he said.

Under the agreement, Iran undertook to restrict its nuclear programme to help ensure it could not be put to developing atomic bombs in exchange for the lifting of trade and financial sanctions that had hobbled its oil-based economy.