Without pre-conditions, US president tells media briefing

PRESIDENT Donald Trump said that he’d “certainly meet” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and without preconditions, if the Iranian leader was willing.

Speaking on Monday at a joint media briefing with Italy’s premier, Trump said he would meet 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 US has also vowed to boost sanctions until Iran changes its regional policies, including its support for regional militant groups.

The first of those sanctions are to come into effect on Monday.

Iranian officials reacted sceptically yesterday, with Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency quoting political adviser Hamid Aboutalebi as saying that for talks to happen, the US needs to rejoin the nuclear deal.

It’s unclear whether Rouhani has any interest in meeting Trump.

Rouhani’s chief of staff claimed earlier this month in Iran’s stateowned newspaper that Rouhani had rejected eight requests from Trump for one-on-one talks last year.

Rouhani recently warned the US that “war with Iran is the mother of all wars”, prompting this retort from Trump:

“To Iranian President Rouhani,” he wrote on Twitter in capital letters. “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.” Trump ended the message with a warning, again in capital letters: “Be cautious!”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif fired back with his own message that began, “Color US unimpressed”.

Trump tempered his threatening rhetoric two days later, when he said his administration stands ready for Iran to come back to the negotiating table.

“We’re ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster,” he said.

Trump has long cast himself as a master negotiator, who is most effective when he meets with his counterparts face-to-face. He pointed to his recent one-on-ones with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as examples of the benefits of such get-togethers.

“I believe in meeting,” he said, talking up the benefits of “speaking to other people, especially when you’re talking about potentials of war and death and famine and lots of other things”.

Asked 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”.

But he appeared to add several qualifications: “If the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their own people, reduce their maligned behaviour, can agree that it’s worthwhile to enter in a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the president said he’s prepared to sit down and have a conversation with him.”

Early reaction on Capitol Hill was mixed, with Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, who is often critical of Trump, telling reporters: “I actually think that’s a good idea.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairperson Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, characterised the overture as “fine”. – African News Agency (ANA) WASHINGTON: Two questions loom large as Paul Manafort prepares to walk into a federal court: Will Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman spend what effectively could be the rest of his life in prison? Or will special counsel Robert Mueller be handed a defeat in his team’s first trial since his appointment a year ago?

Those questions will be answered by 12 jurors selected this week as Manafort’s trial on tax evasion and bank fraud charges gets under way in Alexandria, Virginia.

The pool of jurors will face questions from both sides and US District Judge TS Ellis III as they try to weed out potential prejudice in a highly publicised and politically divisive investigation.

That task comes as the president and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have intensified their attempts to undermine the Mueller investigation in the court of public opinion and as the president continues to waffle on whether he’ll sit for a private interview with prosecutors. The president criticised Mueller at the weekend and continues to refer to the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference as a “witch-hunt” and “an illegal scam”.

While the main areas of Mueller’s investigation are Russia’s actions during the 2016 presidential election and any attempts by Trump to obstruct justice, none of those topics are expected to come up in Manafort’s trial. In fact, prosecutors said they don’t expect the word “Russia” to be mentioned.

Instead, the trial will centre on Manafort’s Ukrainian consulting work and only briefly touch on his involvement in Trump’s campaign.

Prosecutors have lined up 35 witnesses and more than 500 pieces of evidence they say will show how Manafort earned more than $60 million from his Ukrainian work and then concealed a “significant percentage” of that money from the IRS. Prosecutors will also argue that Manafort fraudulently obtained millions more in bank loans, including during his time on the campaign.

Prosecutors say they will also introduce evidence that a bank chairman allowed Manafort to file inaccurate loan information in exchange for a role on the Republican campaign and the promise of a job in the Trump administration that never materialised.

At the centre of all this will be another Trump campaign aide, Rick Gates, who spent years working for Manafort in Ukraine and is also accused of helping him falsify paperwork used to obtain the bank loans. Gates, who cut a plea deal with Mueller earlier this year, is expected to testify against his former mentor. – AP KIGALI: The Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources has lifted a ban on cattle movements imposed following the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in four districts of Eastern Province.

The outbreak, first detected on May 18 in the Ngoma, Kirehe, Rwamagana and Kayonza districts, claimed 99 cows.

Following a massive vaccination dive to stop the spread of the disease, no new cases have been reported since July 14. Rift Valley fever is a viral disease of cattle and sheep spread to livestock through infected mosquitoes’ bites. – Xinhua SAUDI Arabia: The king has pledged support for Palestine in the US-led “deal of the century” peace deal.

On Monday, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz declared that the kingdom would not endorse any peace deal that did not address the status of Jerusalem or right of return.

King Salman has reportedly given private assurances to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, promising “we will not abandon you… We accept what you accept and we reject what you reject”. – Telesur