US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be willing to meet Iran’s president without preconditions to discuss how to improve ties after he pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying, “If they want to meet, we’ll meet.”
“I’d meet with anybody. I believe in meetings,” especially in cases where war is at stake, Trump said at a White House news conference when asked whether he was willing to meet President Hassan Rouhani, Reuters reported.
In response, Iran says the way back to talks was for the United States to return to the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that Trump tore up in May.
“Respecting the Iranian nation’s rights, reducing hostilities and returning to the nuclear deal are steps that could be taken to pave the bumpy road of talks between Iran and America,” Hamid Aboutalebi, an adviser to Rouhani, tweeted on Tuesday.
Iran and other signatories have been working hard to find a way to salvage the nuclear agreement now on the verge of collapse. The US has said it is reimposing tough economic and oil sanctions on Iran.
No US president has met with an Iranian leader after Washington cut diplomatic ties a year after the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah, a US ally. Former US president Barack Obama broke a three-decade freeze with a phone call to Rouhani in 2013 when the latter was in New York for the UN General Assembly.
The White House clarified that Trump’s potential willingness to meet with his Iranian counterpart does not change his administration’s intent to ratchet up sanctions and the rhetoric against Tehran with the stated goal of “seeking changes in the Iranian government’s behavior.”
But Trump’s remarks did represent a marked softening of tone from a week ago, when he lashed out at Rouhani in a tweet, saying “Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”
Shortly before that July 22 tweet, Rouhani had addressed Trump in a public speech, saying that hostile US policies could lead to “the mother of all wars”.
On Monday, speaking at a news conference with the visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Trump said, “I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet. I don’t know that they’re ready yet. I ended the Iran deal. It was a ridiculous deal. I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet and I’m ready to meet any time that they want to.”
Trump noted that he had “no preconditions” for a meeting with the Iranians, adding, “If they want to meet, I’ll meet.”
Economic Pressure
In May, Trump abandoned the landmark 2015 international agreement. Since then, Iran has been under mounting US pressure and the prospect of renewed sanctions.
Barely a week ago, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a toxic assault on Iran’s leaders, comparing them to the “mafia” and promising unspecified backing for Iranians discontent with their government.
Despite the fiery and unprecedented exchanges between Tehran and Washington, authorities in Tehran have kept the door to diplomacy partially open.
While warning the US over waging war against Iran, Rouhani said last week that “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace,” leaving open the possibility of peace between the two arch enemies.
But if Trump were to opt for decent diplomacy with Iran, he will have to overcome deep-seated concerns among Washington’s closest regional allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are rabidly opposed to negotiations with Rouhani’s government and are deeply hostile to any sense of normalcy between the US and Iran.
Trump drew a comparison with his diplomacy toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who Trump met in June with the aim of convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal -- a decades-long objective that has eluded several US presidents.
“We met as you know with Chairman Kim and you haven’t had a missile fired off in nine months. We got our prisoners back. So many things have happened so positive,” Trump said in the Monday press conference in the White House.
