Trump: I’ll meet Iranians ‘anytime’
Reiterates threat of shutdown if denied on border-security agenda
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he’d “certainly meet” with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and without preconditions, if the Iranian leader were willing.
Speaking during a joint news conference with Italy’s premier, Trump said he would meet with the Iranians “anytime they want to.”
“I’ll meet with anybody,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with meeting.”
The overture comes as Trump and the Iranians have been escalating their rhetoric after Trump’s May withdrawal from the landmark nuclear accord. The United States has also vowed to boost sanctions until Iran changes its regional policies, including its support for regional militant groups.
It’s unclear whether Rouhani has any interest in meeting with Trump. Rouhani’s chief of staff claimed this month in Iran’s state-owned newspaper that Rouhani had rejected eight requests from Trump for oneon-one talks last year.
Rouhani recently warned the U.S. that “war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” prompting an all-caps retort from Trump.
“To Iranian President Rouhani,” he wrote on Twitter. “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH.”
He ended the message with a warning: “BE CAUTIOUS!”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif fired back with his own message that began, “COLOR US UNIMPRESSED.”
Asked Monday whether he would set any preconditions for the meetings, Trump was clear.
“No preconditions, no. If they want to meet, I’ll meet anytime they want, anytime they want,” he said. “Good for the country, good for them, good for us and good for the world. No preconditions. If they want to meet, I’ll meet.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNBC on Monday that he was onboard with the president’s invitation, saying Trump “wants to meet with folks to solve problems”
‘No problem’ with shutdown
Also Monday, unnerving fellow Republicans, Trump declared he would have “no problem” shutting down the federal government this fall if Congress won’t come up with more money for border security.
Trump’s threat, his second in two days, put him further at odds with his own party in Congress, where many Republicans are facing tough re-election fights this November. A shutdown when government funding expires at the end of September, just weeks before the midterm elections, would be the second under unified Republican control of Washington, following a weekend stoppage in January.
“I would have no problem doing a shutdown,” Trump said during the joint press conference at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “It’s time we had proper border security. We’re the laughingstock of the world.”
Trump acknowledged on Monday his demands are a starting point.
“I’ll always leave room for negotiation,” he said.
Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working to fund the government and that Trump’s threat “is not good for anything.”
He added: “It might help him. It might not help him. It doesn’t help us right now.”
Giuliani: ‘Collusion is not a crime’
While special counsel Robert Mueller investigates interference in the 2016 election, Trump denies any “collusion” with Russians, but his lawyer Rudy Giuliani says it’s not even a crime.
Giuliani on Fox News on Monday said, “I have been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime . . . Collusion is not a crime.”
Trump said on Twitter on Sunday, “There is No Collusion!”