Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has left the door open to negotiations, but reiterated Tehran’s contingency that U.S. sanctions against Iran be lifted beforehand.
He said “whenever the U.S. lifts the unfair sanctions, the heads of 5+1 nations can immediately meet, and we have no problem” with that, adding that Iran would defy anyone who places sanctions on the country. “But we have not closed the window on talks.”
The United States withdrew in May 2018 from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, reimposing sanctions lifted under it along with enacting new financial penalties against the regime.
Rouhani’s comments came amid recent alarm from U.S. defense and administration officials of Iranian weapons and forces being moved to potentially attack U.S. forces, reported CNN.
“I would expect that if we look at the past three or four months, it’s possible they will do something that is irresponsible. It’s possible that they’ll lash out at their neighbors,” Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of the U.S. Central Command, told an audience in Bahrain recently. “It is not going to be productive for them in the long term to choose to act out in the military domain. That’s the message that we’re trying to convey.”
