Following the announcement by the French President Emmanuel Macron that he would be ready to host a meeting between Iran and the United States, Rouhani said in his speech that Washington would have to take the first step by lifting all sanctions imposed on Tehran. Photo by EPA-EFE
Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A day after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he'd be open to talks with Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said there will be no progress in U.S.-Iran relations until Washington lifts sanctions off Tehran, according to state-run media.
"In the relations between Iran and the United States, we will not witness any positive development unless the United States abandons the sanctions and corrects the wrong path it has chosen," Tasnim News Agency reported Rouhani as saying during a ceremony in the nation's capital.
He said Iran is not looking to create tension and prefers regional security and will abide by its commitments to a 2015 landmark multination accord aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon if other countries uphold their end of the bargain.
Trump unilaterally pulled the United States from the accord last May.
"The key to positive developments is in Washington's hands," Rouhani said.
Rouhani's remarks come a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he'd be open to meeting with his Iranian counterpart and even willing to offer short-term loans to help its battered economy.
"I think he's going to want to meet," Trump told reporters Monday in France for a Group of 7 summit. "I think Iran wants to get their situation straightened out. Their inflation is through the roof. Their economy is tanked entirely."
Trump's comments followed a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron who said he'd attempt to arrange a meeting for the two leaders in the next few weeks to end decades of combative relations between the countries that have worsened in the past year.
"My conviction was that an agreement can be met," Macron said.
Tensions between Iran and the United States began to racket up tensions last May when Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord and imposed sanctions against the Middle Eastern Country. In turn, Tehran said exactly a year later it, too, would stop complying with some commitments in the deal and began to stockpile low-enriched uranium. It has since surpassed stockpile limits set out in the deal.
Relations continued to fray following several attacks on tankers near the Persian Gulf that the United States has blamed on Iran, among several other incidents including the British government seizing an Iranian tanker at the behest of the U.S. government on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions. The vessel has seen been released.
