Iran Candidate Says Willing to Potentially Meet Biden

Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, a candidate in Iran's upcoming presidential election, poses for a photo at his office in Tehran, Iran, June 9, 2021. (AP)
Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, a candidate in Iran's upcoming presidential election, poses for a photo at his office in Tehran, Iran, June 9, 2021. (AP)
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Iran Candidate Says Willing to Potentially Meet Biden

Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, a candidate in Iran's upcoming presidential election, poses for a photo at his office in Tehran, Iran, June 9, 2021. (AP)
Former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, a candidate in Iran's upcoming presidential election, poses for a photo at his office in Tehran, Iran, June 9, 2021. (AP)

A prominent Iranian presidential candidate said Wednesday he’d be willing to meet with US President Joe Biden if he wins his country’s election next week, though “America needs to send better and stronger signals” to the country.

Speaking to The Associated Press, former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati stressed that an American return to Iran’s tattered nuclear deal was key to any possible relationship amid the wider tensions in the Middle East.

“I think we haven’t seen anything serious from Mr. Biden’s side yet,” Hemmati said. “They first need to go back to the (nuclear deal) that they withdrew from. If we see the process and more confidence is built, then we can talk about that.”

Hemmati, 64, is one of the seven candidates approved by Iranian authorities to run for the presidency in the June 18 election. Polling and analysts suggest he lags in the race behind hardline judiciary chief and front-runner Ebrahim Raisi, believed to be a favorite of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

While Khamenei has final say on all matters of state, whoever serves as president can affect domestic issues and set the tone for Iran’s broader approach with the world. Outgoing President Hassan Rouhani, a relatively moderate cleric within Iran’s theocracy, helped his nation reach its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

However, Rouhani has struggled with the fallout of then-President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw America from the accord in 2018. That’s seen crushing sanctions target Iran and Tehran later abandoned all the limits on its nuclear program. It now enriches small amounts of uranium to 60% purity — a record high, though still short of weapons-grade levels of 90%.

While Hemmati has been at pains to distance himself from Rouhani due to the cleric’s unpopularity over the nuclear deal’s collapse, he’s viewed widely as being the candidate who would carry out similarly moderate policies within the theocracy.

Talking to AP journalists at his Tehran office, Hemmati repeatedly said that the signal Iranians hoped to see from the US was Washington’s return to the nuclear deal. A visit with Biden also would hinge on it being “within the framework of the general policies of the ruling system,” he said.

“The Americans have sent positive signals but those signals haven’t been strong enough,” he said. “If there are stronger signals, it will affect how optimistic or pessimistic we are.”

Asked about whether Iran would be willing to accept further restrictions, such as on its ballistic missile program to get sanctions relief, Hemmati said Tehran would refuse such an offer.

“Iran’s nuclear commitments must be inside the framework of the (deal),” he said. “If they are not, neither the (supreme) leader nor the president will accept that.”

The White House declined to comment on Hemmati’s remarks to the AP.

The US had a close relationship with Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, hosting the monarch for visits with presidents from Harry S. Truman to Jimmy Carter. After the 1979 revolution toppled the shah’s government, relations strained and then broke with the US Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

In the time since, Iranian leaders have taken pains to avoid Americans, even using different hallways at the United Nations so as to not bump into each other. That relationship slightly warmed during negotiations for the nuclear deal. Rouhani had a telephone conversation with then-President Barack Obama in 2013. A face-to-face meeting, however, has not happened.

As the former Central Bank chief, Hemmati, has made economics a cornerstone of his campaign. During two televised presidential debates, he’s repeatedly mentioned the challenges facing Iranians, who have seen their life savings evaporate due to the rapid devaluation of the country’s rial currency. Inflation remains in the double digits, while good jobs remain scarce.

If the talks in Vienna over the nuclear deal fail, Hemmati said he would manage that as president.

“We managed to neutralize the sanctions and run the economy over the past three years of difficult sanctions,” he said. “Definitely I have plans for that (scenario) as well, but we will try to help the deal reach positive results, God willing.”

He didn’t elaborate on those plans. The sanctions also have shut off Iran’s ability to openly sell crude oil on the world market, further cutting into an industry vital to government budgets.

It remains unclear how the election will go, particularly on the issue of turnout. The state-linked Iranian Student Polling Agency has projected a 38% turnout from the country’s 59 million eligible voters, which would be a historic low amid a lack of enthusiasm by voters and the coronavirus pandemic. Officials have been trying to boost interest in the election as they see turnout as a sign of confidence in the theocracy since 1979.

Within Iran, candidates exist on a political spectrum that broadly includes hardliners who want to expand Iran’s nuclear program and confront the world, moderates who hold onto the status quo and reformists who want to change the theocracy from within.

Asked about his chances, Hemmati offered an optimistic assessment despite polling suggesting Raisi held the advantage in a race that includes five hard-liners, a little-known reformist and himself.

“Against those five people who belong to the same political front, I don’t count them as rivals,” Hemmati said. “My rival is the people’s breakup with the ballot box.”



Trump Calls Being President a ‘Very Dangerous Profession’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Calls Being President a ‘Very Dangerous Profession’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Friday reflected on threats to his life as he celebrated a court ruling that handed his administration sweeping power to pursue his policy agenda.

Asked by a reporter about such threats, the Republican suggested that he is occasionally reminded of when he was grazed in the ear by a bullet at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13, 2024.

"I get that throbbing feeling every once in a while," Trump said. "But you know what? That's okay. This is a dangerous business."

He made the comments during a wide-ranging, impromptu White House press conference scheduled to celebrate the US Supreme Court decision that handed him a major victory by curbing federal judges' power to impose nationwide rulings that block his policies.

On Friday, the businessman-turned-politician described the presidency as riskier than some of the most perilous professions.

"You have race car drivers as an example, 1/10 of 1% die. Bull riders, 1/10 of 1%. That's not a lot, but it's - people die. When you're president, it's about 5%. If somebody would have told me that, maybe I wouldn't have run. Okay? This is, this is a very dangerous profession."

Four of the 45 US presidents have been assassinated. Several more presidents and candidates for the office have been shot.

There have been several threats on Trump's life. Law enforcement officials said Trump also survived a September 15, 2024, assassination attempt while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect in that incident faces five federal charges and has pleaded not guilty.

The July shooting suspect was shot to death by Secret Service agents. One person at the Pennsylvania rally was killed; two others were wounded.

The United States has also separately said Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps at one point attempted to assassinate Trump. Iran, whose nuclear facilities were bombed by US forces last weekend, has denied the allegation.

Trump, serving his second term in office, has pushed an expansive vision of presidential power, sharply attacked his political foes and vowed retribution against them.

The United States is experiencing its most sustained period of political violence since the 1970s. Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts since Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.