Trump says he is willing to talk to
Iran's leader without preconditions
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[July 31, 2018]
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump said on Monday he would be willing to meet Iran's leader
without preconditions to discuss how to improve ties after he pulled the
United States 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 with Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani.
In response, Iran said the way back to talks was for the United States
to return to the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that
Trump exited in May.
"Respecting the Iranian nation's rights, reducing hostilities and
returning to the nuclear deal are steps that can be taken to pave the
bumpy road of talks between Iran and America," Hamid Aboutalebi, an
adviser to Rouhani, tweeted on Tuesday.
Washington aims to force Tehran to end its nuclear program and its
support of militant groups in the Middle East, where Iran is involved in
proxy wars from Yemen to Syria.
Iran and other signatories have been working to find a way to salvage
the nuclear agreement, even as the United States has begun reimposing
some sanctions on Iran.
No U.S. president has met with an Iranian leader since the Washington
cut diplomatic relations with Tehran a year after the 1979 revolution
that toppled the shah, a U.S. ally. President Barack Obama broke a
three-decade freeze with a phone call to Rouhani in 2013.
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 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
speech, saying that hostile U.S. policies could lead to "the mother of
all wars".
On Monday, speaking at a news conference with 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 said he had "no preconditions" for a meeting with the Iranians,
adding: "If they want to meet, I'll meet."
The White House said that even though the president "is open to dialogue
and negotiation," it did not mean the United States would lift sanctions
or re-establish diplomatic and commercial relations.
"This relief is only possible if there are tangible, demonstrated, and
sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies," said Garrett Marquis, spokesman
for the National Security Council. "Until then, the sting of sanctions
will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course.”
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President Donald Trump listens to a question as he holds a joint
news conference with Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in the
East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 30, 2018.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
ECONOMIC PRESSURE
In May, Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark 2015
international agreement designed to deny Tehran the ability to build
nuclear weapons. Since then, Tehran's clerical establishment has
been under increasing U.S. pressure and the prospect of renewed
sanctions.
Barely a week ago, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a
rhetorical assault on Iran’s leaders, comparing them to a “mafia”
and promising unspecified backing for Iranians unhappy with their
government.
In spite of fierce verbal exchanges between Tehran and Washington in
the recent weeks, Iranian authorities have kept the door to
diplomacy open.
While warning the United States over waging a war against Iran,
Rouhani also 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 arch foes.
Iranian figures familiar with policymaking say, as a faltering
economy and a sliding currency stir street protests, that Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could consider diplomacy with
Washington and drink from “the chalice of poison,” a reference to
the phrase used by his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when
he reluctantly agreed to a U.N.-mediated truce that ended the
1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Economic hardship in Iran forced Khamenei to reluctantly back
Rouhani's efforts in securing the 2015 nuclear deal.
But if Trump were to pursue diplomacy with Iran's leadership, he
would have to overcome deep-seated concerns among Washington's
closest regional allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are
deeply skeptical about negotiating with Rouhani's government.
Trump drew a comparison with his diplomacy toward North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un, who Trump met in a June 12 summit with the aim
of convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal, a
decades-long objective that has eluded several U.S. 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.
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Washington and Parisa
Hafezi in Ankara; Writing by David Alexander and Mary Milliken;
Editing by James Dalgleish)
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