Iran has dismissed the possibility of a meeting between the country's president, Hassan Rouhani, and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this month, the country's state-run news media reported Monday.
"Neither is such a plan on our agenda nor will such a thing happen," Seyed Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference, according to Fars, a state-run outlet. "This meeting will not be held."
Mousavi added that if the United States "stops economic terrorism and returns to the nuclear deal, then they may sit at a corner and be present within the framework of the nuclear deal member states."
His comments come after an attack on two major oil installations in Saudi Arabia on Saturday further escalated tensions between Iran and the United States. The Houthi rebels in Yemen, who receive support from Iran, claimed responsibility for the strikes, but the Trump administration has accused Tehran of being behind the attack.
Earlier, the White House had said that it was not ruling out the possibility of a meeting between Trump and Rouhani on the sidelines of the U.N. summit. But the events of the weekend have jeopardized any potential for discussion.
The relationship between the U.S. and Iran has devolved since last year, when Trump abruptly withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal to limit Iran's nuclear program and reimposed punishing economic sanctions.
Since withdrawing from the deal, Trump has said that he was willing to meet with Iran with no preconditions.
"I'm ready to meet anytime they want to," Trump said of Iran on July 30, 2018. "No preconditions. If they want to meet, we'll meet."
He echoed those comments on June 23 during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, urging Iran to talk and saying, "No preconditions."
In addition, both Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Sept. 10 that Trump remained open to such talks.
"The president has made clear, he's happy to take a meeting with no preconditions," Mnuchin told reporters.
"The president's made it very clear: He is prepared to meet with no preconditions," Pompeo said shortly afterward.
But the president appeared to walk back those statements Sunday, tweeting, "The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, 'No Conditions.' That is an incorrect statement (as usual!)"
Asked at the White House on Monday whether he would meet with the Iranians without preconditions, Trump replied that he won't remove sanctions from Iran, and the sanctions are the conditions.
"So, you know, that's why the press misreported it," he said. "The biggest thing you can talk about are the sanctions, and the sanctions are massive."
Separately, Iranian authorities said Monday that Iran's Revolutionary Guard had seized a tanker in the Persian Gulf carrying smuggled diesel fuel, which they say was headed toward the United Arab Emirates.
The state-run news outlet Press TV, citing a commander of the group, said the vessel was detained near the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for maritime oil traffic.
"The boat's 11 crew members have been handed over to legal authorities," he said, without elaborating on the nationalities of the crew, according to Press TV.
It was unclear where the ship was from and if the allegations of fuel smuggling were true.
Information for this article was contributed by Megan Specia of The New York Times; and by John Wagner of The Washington Post.
A Section on 09/17/2019