US Sending Messages for Talks with Iran: Rouhani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the US administration’s contradictory policies on the Islamic Republic and said that on the one hand, Washington exerts pressures on Tehran and on the other hand, it conveys messages of willingness to negotiate.
“A new group has taken office in the White House who are not only at odds with the Islamic Republic of Iran but also at odds with their old and traditional friends as well as countries with whom they have close economic ties,” Rouhani said in a speech in Tehran on Saturday.
“They (the US officials) on the one hand put Iran under pressure and on the other hand send messages in various ways about negotiation,” he said.
The president wondered how Iran can trust the US administration given Washington’s hostile behavior toward Tehran.
The comments come as US President Donald Trump has voiced willingness to meet with Iran's leadership, without preconditions, "whenever they want."
"I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet," Trump said at the White House on July 30.
Back in May, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei decried both the previous and current US administrations for reneging on their promises and threatening the Islamic Republic, saying that’s why Iran does not negotiate and interact with the US.
On May 8, Trump pulled his country out of the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was achieved in 2015 after years of negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
