Rouhani calls for end of sanctions

Iran’s President has back-pedalled on possible talks with Donald Trump, saying the US President must first lift sanctions imposed on Tehran, otherwise a meeting between the two would be a mere photo op.

Hassan Rouhani’s change of heart came a day after Trump said on Monday that there was a “really good chance” the two could meet on their nuclear impasse after a surprise intervention by French President Emmanuel Macron during the G7 summit to try to bring Washington and Tehran together after decades of conflict.

“Without the US’s withdrawal from sanctions, we will not witness any positive development,” Rouhani said in a televised speech yesterday, adding that Washington “holds the key” as to what happens next.

“If someone intends to make it as just a photo op with Rouhani, that is not possible,” he said.

Rouhani had earlier expressed readiness to negotiate a way out of the crisis following America’s pullout from the nuclear deal, saying: “We should not miss opportunities.”

Rouhani also shielded his Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, against criticism from hardliners over his surprise visit Sunday to France’s Biarritz, where leaders of the G7 democracies were meeting.

Macron said he hoped Trump and Rouhani could meet within weeks in hopes of saving the 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran struck with world powers, but which the US unilaterally withdrew from last year. Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.