Trump rejects any meeting with Rouhani

NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as world leaders gathered in New York but signaled he was open to a future meeting, despite simmering tensions over Tehran’s nuclear deal.

In remarks to reporters on his way to his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said he would not meet the Iranians until they “change their tune.” Both Trump and Rouhani were attending the annual UN event. Foes for decades, Washington and Tehran have been increasingly at odds since May, when the Republican US president pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and announced sanctions against the OPEC member.

The accord, negotiated under Democratic US president Barack Obama, lifted most international sanctions against Tehran in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear programme.

Over the summer, Trump had said he would meet with Rouhani without preconditions to negotiate a new deal, an offer reiterated on Sunday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and extended to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Rouhani said on Monday Tehran would not talk to Trump until the United States re- turned to the 2015 deal.

The top adviser to Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, rejected the US offer on Tuesday, saying “Trump’s and Pompeo’s dream would never come to reality,” the IRNA news agency said.

Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for Iran’s U.N. mission, told Reuters that Iran has not requested a meeting with Trump.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/world