Iran on nuke deal: Trump will have to call us

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Monday that if President Donald Trump wants to negotiate after pulling the United States out of the international deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, he’ll have to initiate the call.

The remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi came after Trump last week said that with the U.S. increasing sanctions on Iran, “at a certain point they’re going to call me and say ‘let’s make a deal,’ and we’ll make a deal.”

Ghasemi said, however, “maybe someday he will call Tehran and ask for negotiations — this is more likely.”

If Trump calls, it’s not clear whether anyone will answer, with Iran’s top leadership rejecting talks with the U.S.

Trump in May said he was unilaterally pulling out of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, because he felt it wasn’t strong enough and didn’t cover other issues of concern to the U.S. and its allies, such as Iran’s military influence in the Middle East and a ballistic missile program.

The five other world powers in the agreement, Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China, as well as the European Union, have been negotiating with Iran over how to keep it in the deal, which provides incentives in exchange for not pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s economy is already suffering from the sanctions that Washington re-imposed after walking away from the nuclear agreement, and the U.S. has threatened to punish companies from other nations that continue doing business with Iran.