RNA - US President Donald Trump said on July 30 that he is ready to meet his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, “any time they want to.”
“It’s 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,” Trump said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated the offer on Sunday and said President Trump wants to hold talks with President Rouhani during the 73rd annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Leader's advisor on international affairs, said, "Trump's and Pompeo's dream will never come to reality and this is definitive."
Back in August, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said the Islamic Republic will not enter into new negotiations with the United States due to cheating and bullying nature of its government.
Ayatollah Khamenei dismissed talks with the US after President Trump called for direct negotiations with Tehran, saying Washington is only after concessions.
Speaking in a meeting with US media officials in New York on Monday, Rouhani ruled out a possible meeting with his US counterpart, saying Iranians could not easily ignore Trump's hostile measures against the Islamic Republic.
Asked whether he would meet with Trump similar to what North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un did in June, Rouhani said, “Since last year, the US president has withdrawn from a very important [nuclear] agreement [with Iran] for no reason and has imposed sanctions and threatened the Iranian people and these measures cannot be easily ignored. The case of North Korea is very different from that of Iran.”
The US president announced in May that Washington was pulling out of the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program. The deal had been signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in 2015.
The US administration reintroduced the previous sanctions while imposing new ones on the Islamic Republic. It also introduced punitive measures — known as secondary sanctions — against third countries doing business with Iran.
A first round of American sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran's access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector. A second round, forthcoming on November 4, will be targeting Iran’s oil sales and its Central Bank.
According to Press TV, Velayati further emphasized that Iran would never yield to the US and its stooges.
He also said Tehran would never be affected by the enemies' propaganda aimed at undermining the Islamic Republic's morale.
Iran not seeking meeting with Trump: Spokesman
Iran has not requested a meeting with the US president, a spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Tuesday.
“Iran has not requested a meeting,” Alireza Miryousefi told Reuters.
Trump says will not meet Rouhani, maybe in future
President Trump said later on Tuesday that he has no plans to meet his Iranian counterpart; however, he was open to a possible future meeting with Rouhani.
Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2018
“Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man,” Trump wrote in a post on his official Twitter account.
Meeting with US not beneficial at this time: Rouhani
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, the Iranian president flatly denied that he has asked for a meeting with his American counterpart, saying he thinks this would not be beneficial or appropriate at this time.
"Not this year, nor last year. We have never made such a request for a meeting with the president of the United States," Rouhani said. He added that while Iran received eight requests from US officials for a meeting last year, he did not think talks between the two countries' authorities were "appropriate," then or now.
In response to a question about being called "a lovely man" by someone who labeled his country "the leading state sponsor of terror," Rouhani dismissed the comment and said Trump is "playing with words and will not get us to any solutions."
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