US President Donald Trump said on Monday he\u2019s willing to meet with Iranian leaders without preconditions amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for the country, good for them, good for us and good for the world. No preconditions. If they want to meet, I\u2019ll meet,\u201d Trump said at a joint press conference with the Italian prime minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m ready to meet any time they want to. And I don\u2019t do that from strength or from weakness. I think it\u2019s an appropriate thing to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s openness to a dialogue with Iran comes a week after he issued an all-caps warning to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that he would face \u201cconsequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered\u201d if he threatened the US.<\/p>\n
His tweet came in response to Rouhani\u2019s comments to Iranian diplomats that war with Iran is \u201cthe mother of all wars.\u201d He also left the door open to peace talks, saying peace with Iran is \u201cthe mother of all peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s not clear whether Iran would accept any proposed meeting, particularly given the threats the US president has issued. In July, Rouhani’s Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, said that Trump had asked eight times for a meeting with Rouhani, and was rejected each time.<\/p>\n
Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May after failing to marshal international support for a tougher approach to the Middle Eastern country. The European Union is trying to salvage the accord, which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n
“If we could work something out that’s meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, I would certainly be willing to meet,” Trump said, pointing out that it would be good for the United States, Iran and the world.<\/p>\n
In pulling out of the agreement, the Trump administration restored wide-ranging sanctions on Iran. His administration is pushing oil buyers to stop purchasing crude from Iran, the world’s fifth largest oil producer, by Nov. 4.<\/p>\n
The ultimatum \u2014 cut Iranian crude imports to zero or face US sanctions \u2014 has ratcheted up tension in recent weeks. Iran has threatened to shut down the world’s busiest sea lane for oil shipments.<\/p>\n
Trump cited his administration’s negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian leader Vladimir Putin as examples of his successful bilateral negotiations.<\/p>\n
“As you know, with Chairman Kim we haven’t had a missile fired in nine months, we got our prisoners back, so many things have happened so positive,” the president said. Trump said his summit with Putin was a “great meeting in terms of the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he\u2019s willing to meet with Iranian leaders without preconditions amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the country, good for them, good for us and good for the world. No preconditions. If they want to meet, I\u2019ll meet,\u201d Trump said at a joint press conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,6],"tags":[911,912,168,642,27],"yoast_head":"\n