All news
Updated at: 

US Trump says not ready to meet with Iranian leadership without preliminary conditions

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said in an interview with US television channel CNBC that a meeting of Trump with Rouhani in New York was not yet on the agenda

WASHINGTON, September 16. /TASS/. President of the United States Donald Trump has dismissed earlier media reports that he was ready to meet with the Iranian leadership without any preliminary conditions.

"The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, ‘No Conditions’," the US president stated in his Twitter account. "That is an incorrect statement (as usual!)."

Last week, the US president hinted on a possibility of meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani within the frames of political debates at the UN General Assembly in late September.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated last Tuesday that Trump was ready to meet with the Iranian leadership without preliminary conditions, but was still solid with his stance on exerting maximum pressure on Tehran.

Bloomberg news agency reported last Wednesday citing its unnamed sources close to the situation that Trump discussed on September 9 a possibility of easing sanctions in regard to Iran in order to secure a meeting with Rouhani in late September, while former National Security Advisor John Bolton sternly opposed a possibility of such development of events.

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said in an interview with US television channel CNBC last Thursday that a meeting of Trump with Rouhani in New York was not yet on the agenda.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in late August he believed it was necessary for Trump and Rouhani to hold a meeting as it "could help stop tensions form rising." The US president said in response that he was ready to meet with his Iranian counterpart "if the circumstances were correct."

Iran nuclear deal issue

In 2015, Iran and six major powers (five member states of the United Nations Security Council - Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and China - and Germany) agreed on the final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which particularly stipulated the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. He said that old sanctions on Iran would be restored and new ones would be introduced in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions.

The first batch of new US sanctions on Iran took effect on August 7 and the second one became effective on November 5. In contrast, Great Britain, Germany and France called on other participants in the deal to continue fulfilling it. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would seek to maintain the agreement.

On May 8, 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran was reducing its commitments under the JCPOA. He pointed out that the other signatories, primarily EU countries, had failed to fulfill their economic obligations under the deal, making it irrelevant.

Rouhani said they had two months to return to compliance. The deadline expired on July 7. On July 8, Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Tehran had exceeded the uranium enrichment level of 4.5%. Iran said it would continue to gradually reduce its JCPOA commitments every 60 days unless other signatories restored compliance.