Trump Open to Talks with Iran at UN: Pompeo
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during this week's United Nations General Assembly gathering.
"I think the president's been pretty clear about that. He's happy to talk with folks at any time," Pompeo said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"If there's a constructive dialogue to be had, let's get after it," he added.
But Pompeo expressed skepticism about a breakthrough in discussions between the US and Iran, claiming that the Iranians haven't shown a willingness to "change their behavior to assuage the concerns of US officials".
In a recent piece for Washington Post, Rouhani said Trump’s offer for talks with Tehran was not “genuine”.
“Trump’s offer of direct talks with Iran is not honest or genuine. How can we be convinced of his sincerity while his secretary of state has gone so far as to set a long list of openly insulting pre-conditions for talks?” he said.
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).
