Trump tells Iran 'call me' over sanctions
US President Donald Trump said he was willing to talk with Iran even after he slapped extra tariffs on the country's exports, causing rising tensions.
Trump told reporters at White House on Thursday that he was willing to hold talks with the Iranian leaders, should they reach out to him.
"What I would like to see with Iran, I would like to see them call me," Trump said.
“What they should be doing is calling me up, sitting down. We can make a deal, a fair deal, we just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons - not too much to ask. And we would help put them back to great shape,” he added.
US sanctions imposed when Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, targeted Iran's government, its paramilitary forces and the oil exports that fund them. The latest hike announced on Wednesday is hitting its vital steel, aluminum, copper and iron industries.
The sanctions are expected to hit the country’s 80m people hard. Previous tariffs plunged the economy into a recession.
"Because of our action, the Iranian regime is struggling to fund its campaign of violent terror as its economy heads into an unprecedented depression, government revenue dries up, and inflation spirals out of control," said Trump.
Iran's metal industry includes dozen of steel mills, mainly government-owned, that employ about 50,000 workers. Of the 25m tonnes of steel produced, Iran exports more than 30%, earning nearly $4bn a year.
Hard right US national security adviser John Bolton also this week announced the administration would be deploying warships to the Middle East to "send a clear and unmistakable message" that it would meet any Iranian attacks on US interests "with unrelenting force".
He said the US is "not seeking war" with Tehran but would be "fully prepared to respond" to any attack from Iran or its proxies in the region.
In order to lift the punishing measures and begin new negotiations, the US requested that Iran should meet a list of 12 steep demands but Iran refused.
Britain, Germany and France have so far failed to ease the financial pressure on Iran despite claiming they want to save the deal. In January, the three countries announced a new trade channel, called Instex, to bypass US sanctions but the mechanism’s launch has been delayed repeatedly.