TEHRAN, Aug 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif said Saturday there would be no meeting with the United States in the
near future following Washington’s reimposition of sanctions.
Asked by the conservative Tasnim news agency if there was any plan to meet
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Zarif said: “No, there will be no
meeting.”
He said there were also no plans for a meeting with US officials on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month, which both
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart Donald Trump are due
to attend.
“On Trump’s recent proposal (of talks), our official stance was announced
by the president and by us. Americans are not honest and their addiction to
sanctions does not allow any negotiation to take place,” Zarif told Tasnim.
It was Iran’s most explicit rejection of talks to date, after much
speculation that economic pressure would force its leaders back to the table
with Washington.
The US reimposed sanctions on Tuesday, following its withdrawal from the
2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers in May.
Zarif met repeatedly with then US secretary of state John Kerry during the
agreement’s negotiation and implementation.
Rouhani said last week that Iran “always welcomed negotiations” but that
Washington would first have to demonstrate it can be trusted.
“If you’re an enemy and you stab the other person with a knife and then you
say you want negotiations, then the first thing you have to do is remove the
knife.”