US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, although he said he is sure that the Iranian leader must be “an absolutely lovely man”.
“Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rohani. Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man!” Trump tweeted early on Tuesday morning.
The White House, according to press reports, evaluated the possibility of arranging a meeting between Trump and Rohani with the idea of fostering some kind of rapprochement similar to the one the US leader created earlier this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after months of harsh rhetoric and threats, Efe reported.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday had repeated to Fox News Trump’s often-expressed offer to meet with Rohani, expanding it to include Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, saying: “That’s who’s running the show in Iran. I think that would be an important and interesting conversation.”
But Rohani ruled out any meeting on Monday, saying that the conditions were not right for such a meeting after Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal and announced that he will impose economic sanctions on Iran, the second round of which will enter into force in November.
Rohani had said Trump had threatened the Iranian people and intervened in Tehran’s internal affairs.
Tensions between the US and Iran are one of the issues that this week are dominating the New York meetings among heads of state and government from around the world.
Both Trump and Rohani were scheduled to touch on this issue during their respective speeches before the General Assembly on Tuesday.