US President Donald Trump has agreed with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the need to stop activities of Iran that threaten the freedom of navigation and trade in the Gulf region, the White House said.
The White House added in a statement that Trump renewed, in a phone call with Macron, his refusal to lift US sanctions on Iran at the current period, Al Hurra reported on Friday.
Last Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran will never hold bilateral talks with U.S., but if it lifts all the sanctions it re-imposed Tehran, it can join multilateral talks between Iran and other parties to a 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters reported.
“No decision has ever been taken to hold talks with the U.S. and there has been a lot of offers for talks but our answer will always be negative,” Rouhani told an open session of parliament broadcast live on state radio.
“If America lifts all the sanctions then like before it can join multilateral talks between Tehran and parties to the 2015 deal,” he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump, although applying “maximum pressure” on Iran, has offered to meet its leaders and hold bilateral talks with no pre-conditions to end the confrontation between their countries.
Last month, Rouhani said: “The situation will change only if the US removes all sanctions against the Islamic Republic.” this came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet with his Iranian counterpart to end the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear activities.
The key to “positive developments” is in the hands of Washington, President Rouhani said during a local ceremony on Tuesday, Mehr News Agency reported.
“If they wish for more security in the region and want to have better relations with regional countries; if they claim that they want nothing from Iran, then they have to step back from sanctions,” the president added.
“We won’t build nuclear bombs” said Rouhani, calling on US to take the first step as the door cannot be unlocked without this step, “which is for you to remove all illegal and unjust sanctions against the Iranian nation.”
Tensions started to build up between the US and Iran after President Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and imposed sanctions against Tehran in a bid to restrict the country’s trade transactions with the world.
last July, Iran announced that its stockpile of enriched uranium would exceed, on Sunday, the 3.6 percent limit set out by the 2015 pact “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)” with world powers.
Iran confirmed that it wants to salvage the nuclear deal and called on other parties to meet their obligations.
The announcement points out that Tehran is reducing its commitments to the 2015 deal.
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