Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the regime will not meet with the United States until Washington lifts all sanctions against Tehran.
“We will not witness any positive development unless the United States abandons its sanctions and corrects the wrong path it has chosen,” he said.
Rouhani’s rejection occurred as U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signaled a willingness to meet with the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed Rouhani’s sentiment, calling such a meeting “unimaginable.”
Zarif was at the Group of Seven, or G7, meetings in Biarritz, France, where Trump said on Monday that it is “realistic” that such talks could happen in a few weeks, as the sanctions on the regime have affected Iran “horribly”—a possibility that has reportedly alarmed Israeli officials.
However, Zarif said on Tuesday that “what American and French officials say concerns themselves. But I told them in Biarritz that no meeting will be held.”
Tensions between the United States and Iran have intensified since the latter withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018, reimposing sanctions lifted under it alongside enacting new financial penalties against the regime.
