US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was willing to meet with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Asked about the possibility of meeting the Iranian leader at the United Nations, Trump told White House reporters anything was possible.
“Sure, anything’s possible. They would like to be able to solve their problem,” he said, referring to inflation in Iran. “We could solve it in 24 hours.”
Trump has publicly said multiple times he would be open to talks with Iranian leaders, but Tehran has rejected any negotiations with Washington unless sanctions are dropped.
His statements were followed shortly by an announcement by Rouhani that Tehran will further reduce its commitments to the nuclear deal.
Iran’s next step in its nuclear program involves the development of centrifuges, Rouhani said in a televised speech.
“We will take all necessary steps to protect the Iranian nation’s rights and interests ... Our third step (to scale back Iran’s commitment to a 2015 nuclear deal) involves the development of centrifuges. We will take this step on Friday,” he said, without elaborating.
The United States has been pressing Iran with sanctions since last year, when Washington abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, often referred to as the Iran nuclear deal.
While European countries, including France, have been trying to push Iran to remain in compliance with the deal, offering proposals such as a $15 billion credit line for Iran to do so, Trump administration officials said on Wednesday they were skeptical of such maneuvers.
