Trump Ready to Meet Iranian Leaders ’Anytime With No Preconditions’

Local Editor

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would agree to meet with Iran's leaders "anytime" and "with no preconditions."

The statement came just days after Trump expressed a harsh and threatening tone toward Iran on his Twitter account. However, in a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the White House on Monday, Trump said he would agree to meet with the Islamic Republic's leaders – assuming they were ready for such a meeting to take place.

"I'll meet with anybody," Trump said. "I believe in meetings. I would meet with Iran if they wanted to meet." Trump added, however, that "I don't know if they're ready." He made it clear that he would not present any preconditions for such a meeting to take place. "No preconditions," he stated, "they want to meet? I'll meet."

Trump went on to explain that "I don't do that from strength or weakness, but I just think it's an appropriate thing to do." He added that he believes the Iranians will, at some point, express interest in meeting the United States to discuss an alternative to the nuclear deal he withdrew from in May. He called the previous agreement a "waste of paper" but said he would like to negotiate a "meaningful" agreement with Iran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on CNBC hours later to set some conditions.

"We've said this before," said the former CIA chief. “If the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their own people, reduce their malign behavior, can agree that it's worthwhile to enter into a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the president said he's prepared to sit down and have the conversation with them.”

Hours before Trump's statement, Tehran had ruled out talks with Washington.

"With current America and these policies, there will definitely not be the possibility of dialogue and engagement, and the United States has shown that it is totally unreliable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a weekly news conference on Monday.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team