Donald Trump says he would meet Iranian leader with no pre-conditions – By Sharon Marris (news.sky.com) / July 30 2018
Following months of trading insults with the Iranian leader, Mr Trump says he would be willing to meet “any time they want to”.
US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to meet Iran’s leader “with no pre-conditions”.
During a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Mr Trump was asked if he would be willing to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
In recent days he and the Iranian leader have traded insults, with Mr Rouhani warning the US to stop “playing with the lion’s tail” and Mr Trump threatening “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before”.
Despite this, Mr Trump said on Monday: “Speaking to other people, especially when you are talking about potential of war, death and famine, you meet.”
He added that he had recently had a “great” meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and with representatives from NATO.
He also met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June, and claimed that due to this “we haven’t had a missile fired in nine months and we got our prisoners back”.
“I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” he added.
“I don’t know if they’re ready to meet – they are having a hard time right now.
“I ended the Iran deal – it was a ridiculous deal.
“I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet and I am ready to meet any time they want to.
“I don’t do that from strength or from weakness – I think it is an appropriate thing to do.”
He said: “If we could work something out that is meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, I would certainly be willing to meet.”
Mr Trump was criticised for his performance during the summits with North Korea and Russia.
The former was dismissed by critics as resulting in little of substance, and the latter saw a number of gaffes, including Mr Trump appearing to say that he trusted Mr Putin’s denial of election meddling over the opinion of US intelligence agencies.
Sky News US correspondent Mark Austin said: “Donald Trump knows the pressure is on Iran, sanctions on Iran are due to be restored in the coming week and the Iranian currency – the rial – has plummeted to its lowest level ever, sparking fears of civil unrest there, so Donald Trump knows the timing may be right.
“Iran’s foreign ministry has said over the last 24 hours that they don’t want talks with the US, saying the US was unreliable so engagement and dialogue with the current government is impossible.
“It remains to be seen whether Donald Trump’s new offer will change their minds.”
