When in New York, Iran’s Rouhani rejected meeting requested by Trump

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected a meeting requested by US President Donald Trump while in New York for the 72nd UN General Assembly.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi made the announcement on Sunday during a press conference after he was asked if Trump had wanted to meet the Iranian president while in New York.

“Such a meeting was suggested by the American side, but was not accepted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani,” Qassemi said.

The highest level of contact between the two countries in decades was in 2013 when Rouhani had a phone conversation with former US President Barack Obama.

While delivering his UN General Assembly speech in September, Rouhani slammed Trump’s anti-Iran speech in which he accused Tehran of engaging in “destabilizing activities” in the region.

Trump also claimed that Iran’s “support for terror is in stark contrast to the recent commitments of many of its neighbors to fight terrorism and halt its financing.”

He also denounced the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, as “an embarrassment” that Washington may abandon. Trump said the Iran deal was “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

In response, Rouhani said that the Iranian nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was an international agreement backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

“The JCPOA does not belong to one or two countries. The JCPOA is a UNSC document, which belongs to the entire international community,” Rouhani said. Rouhani also responded to the US threat to scrap the deal, saying Iran would respond to any breach of the JCPOA.