President Rouhani: Trump’s Demands for Meeting Rejected 8 Times

“Today, we do not have any way but resistance. During the 2017 visit to New York, the US administration demanded 8 times for meeting with the US president and in the year 2018, 5 world leaders mediated for this meeting. I told them that conditions and time are not appropriate. The US should first return to the nuclear deal and admit their mistake,” President Rouhani said, addressing the officials of Gilan province’s administrative council on Thursday.

“They are after negotiations. We do not escape from negotiations either, and are associated with negotiation. Since I am specialized in negotiations, I powerfully say that we do not fear the negotiating table and our logic is so much strong and framed that we can stand against the US (officials) or any other individuals,” he added.

President Rouhani underscored that Iran neither fears the battle ground nor the negotiations, saying that the Iranian officials love their country’s national interests and will not compromise on it.

Senior diplomatic sources in Tehran had revealed last month that Trump was seriously attempting to open a channel to hold direct talks with his Iranian counterpart and travel to the country.

“The US is not so much serious in the current sanctions given the waivers granted to certain countries… and it is trying to make a communication bridge to Iran,” Amir Moussavi, a former Iranian diplomat, told the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel.

“Based on information I have, a message was sent from Washington (via mediators) for direct talks with Mr. Rouhani. Even Mr. Trump has voiced readiness to visit Tehran,” he added.

Moussavi said that Iran has rejected Trump’s demand for a visit to Tehran, adding that one of the mediators is Oman.

“Two European states, two Arab countries and one Southeast Asian state are the mediators,” he said, adding that the messages had been sent from Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Moussavi said that Iran had an important condition for talks as it did not want talks for talks and talks for just taking pictures.

“Iran’s most important condition is that Trump should return to the (2015) nuclear deal from which it has withdrawn. Iran has sent this message to Washington via mediators,” he said.