President Donald Trump said he’s willing to meet with the government of Iran without any preconditions and at its convenience.
However, Trump acknowledged the Islamic regime’s unwillingness.
“I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet. I don’t know that they’re ready yet,” Trump said. “They’re having a hard time right now.”
Trump has increased pressure on Iran to stop supporting terrorists and militias along with other threatening and destabilizing behavior in the region.
In May, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal that was signed by former President Barack Obama, who granted Iran up to $150 billion in sanctions relief and sent the regime $1.7 billion in cash.
Trump has since ordered the imposition of “the highest level” sanctions, some of which will go into effect on Aug. 6 and the rest—including key sanctions on oil, energy, and banking—on Nov. 4.
Iran has projected defiance.
Iran has been trying to preserve what’s left of the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the remaining signatories—Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union.
Iran is now in a diplomatic race against the United States as it tries to convince countries to maintain business ties while the United States sends out delegations to convince countries to isolate Iran, especially to stop buying Iranian oil, a crucial revenue source buoying the regime.
In early July, Rouhani threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, saying that if Iran can’t export oil, no other country in the region will either. The strait is a choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which about a fifth of the world’s oil shipments pass.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Navy Captain Bill Urban responded by saying the United States and its partners “stand ready to ensure the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce wherever international law allows.”
Rouhani followed up on the threat on July 22, saying, “We have a lot of straits; Hormuz is just one of them.”
Regardless, Trump reiterated his belief that Iran will eventually come around.
“I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet. And I’m ready to meet any time they want to. And I don’t do that from strength or from weakness. I think it’s an appropriate thing to do,” he said. “If we could work something out that’s meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, I would certainly be willing to meet.”
The Trump administration had two main concerns with Obama’s JCPOA. First, that it included so-called sunset clauses, which would have allowed Iran to install thousands of advanced uranium centrifuges by 2026 and quickly develop a nuclear weapon. The other was that Iran’s ballistic missile development was not covered under the agreement.
The withdrawal from the agreement came after Iran was given months of opportunity to re-negotiate these parts of the deal.
Pompeo said on July 22 that the United States is willing to lift the sanctions, but listed 12 demands that the Iranian regime would have to meet first. Those included the end of its ballistic missile program, release of detained Americans, ending the support of terrorist groups and militias including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, as well as withdrawing its forces from Syria. Cessation of threats to international shipping was also on the list.
