NewzTrump interested in meeting Iranian officials at UN, CNN reports US President Donald Trump has expressed interest in meeting senior Iranian officials attending the UN General Assembly in New York, CNN reported, citing a US official. Trump has told advisers he would like to set up a meeting to discuss the ongoing war if the “conditions are right”, according to the report. CNN reported no formal meeting has been scheduled but the potential meeting could involve Trump’s senior advisers.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Tuesday that Trump is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is scheduled to attend the General Assembly. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly, while Pezeshkian is expected to arrive ahead of his address to the assembly. The potential meeting comes as Washington and Tehran remain at war, with diplomatic contacts continuing amid the fighting.
Iran and the United States hinted on Tuesday at the prospect of reviving negotiations to end their conflict, with the presidents of both countries due at the UN General Assembly in New York. The event would be the first attended by Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian since Trump launched "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran in February, alongside Israel. Trump had said on Sunday he would be open to a meeting with the Iranian president.
A senior Iranian official said there were no plans for the two leaders to meet directly, but that Iran's delegation had full authority to revive talks. Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf shipping within seven days if the US fulfilled Tehran's demands to ease military pressure and lift an American blockade on Iranian ports, the Iranian official said, adding that Iran had conveyed its latest proposal to Washington via mediators last week. "The US needs to announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official, and then agree on a timeline for how the process will move forward," the official said.
"The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy." Also Read: Bab al-Mandeb tensions test Egypt’s Suez Canal Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC the US was open to speaking with the Iranians, "especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about". No face-to-face meetings between Iran and the United States are known to have taken place since July, when an agreement on an interim deal to end the war collapsed just weeks after it was signed by Trump and Pezeshkian. Asked by Fox and Friends about the prospect of a meeting between the presidents, Rubio said of Trump: "He's a businessman who comes from the world of practicality and common sense.
And common sense tells you there's no harm in engaging and talking to someone." Reminders of hardline positions But Rubio also noted that Pezeshkian is subordinate under Iran's ruling system to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, "and the supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric and we need to remember that when we talk". "The central issue here is Iran is run by lunatic clerics," he told Fox. "These people can never have nuclear weapons." In a reminder of Iran's firm position so far, Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed Ir…
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