Iran steps back from nuclear deal talks with US
Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, reversed course on the possibility of holding talks with the US on a new nuclear deal until Washington lifts "all illegal, unjust and unfair sanctions imposed on Iran".
Possibly under pressure from hardliners in Tehran, in a televised address on Tuesday, Rouhani also said that otherwise a meeting between the two would be just a photo op and “that is not possible”.
"If the US does not lift the sanctions and does not reject the wrong path that it has chosen, we will not witness any positive developments. The key for positive developments is in the hands of Washington."
He reportedly also said that if the US President's only concern was that Tehran might gain nuclear weapons then there was "nothing to worry about."
The day before, Rouhani had said that he was ready to find a negotiated solution and the US President, Donald Trump, had said that there was "a really good chance" that the two leaders might meet following the surprise intervention by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had invited Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to attend the last G7 summit in Biarritz.
"We're not looking for leadership change," Trump reportedly said. "We're looking for no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles.
"I really believe Iran can be a great nation," he added. "But they can't have nuclear weapons, ok?"
The Iranian and US presidents were both due to attend the UN general assembly in New York in mid-September and a meeting between the two would be the first such encounter since the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis.
“Through this coordination we took an initiative yesterday to bring back the Iranian foreign minister and many exchanges with the French ministers which has allowed us to sketch a path,” French President, Emmanuel Macron, said on Monday.
“Nothing is certain and it is still extremely fragile, but there have been discussions on a technical level with some real progress.”