Tehran’s foreign minister says no meetings have been planned with the US
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, yesterday said there are no talks with the US slated for next month’s UN General Assembly.
“No such meeting is planned. We have repeatedly announced our position,” Mr Zarif told the semi-official news agency Tasnim.
The US last week reimposed sanctions on Iran in line with President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Mr Trump has offered talks, probably involving US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a “more comprehensive deal” but Iran has refused to negotiate under the pressure of sanctions and has formed increasingly close ties with fellow US sanctions targets Turkey and Russia.
“On Trump’s recent proposal, our official stance was announced by the president and by us,” Mr Zarif said.
“Americans are not honest and their addiction to sanctions does not allow any negotiation to take place.”
It was Iran’s most explicit rejection of talks after speculation that economic pressure would force its leaders back to the table with Washington or at least to back-room discussions in New York.
Mr Zarif repeatedly met then US secretary of state John Kerry during the negotiations and implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement but those ties were abruptly severed when the Trump government came to power.
President Hassan Rouhani said last week that Iran “always welcomed negotiations” but that Washington would first have to demonstrate that it could be trusted.
“If you’re an enemy and you stab the other person with a knife and then you say you want negotiations, the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” Mr Rouhani said.