Baku, Azerbaijan, July 18
Trend:
The Iranian president’s Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, claimed that the US president made eight requests to meet with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in September.
During Rouhani’s last visit to New York for the UN General Assembly session, Trump asked the Iranian delegation eight times to have a meeting with him, Vaezi said, Tasnim news agency reported July 18.
Earlier in October, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi, said that Rouhani rejected a meeting requested by US president while in New York for the 72nd UN General Assembly.
“Such a meeting was suggested by the American side, but was not accepted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani,” Qassemi said.
Last month more than 100 Iranians activists and well-known personalities issued a statement calling for direct talks between Tehran and Washington without setting any pre-conditions to resolve the disputes between the two parties.
The statement insists that the perilous and precarious situation of the region needs a serious and responsible resolution to the current crisis-ridden relations between Tehran and Washington.
The highest level of contact between the two countries in decades was in 2013 when Rouhani had a phone conversation with former US President Barack Obama. Iranian conservatives severely criticized Rouhani on the issue.
The US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since US embassy personnel in Tehran was taken hostage for 444 days starting in late 1979.
In the absence of formal relations, Switzerland represents US interests in Tehran, and Pakistan represents Iranian interests in Washington. The only Iranian diplomatic presence in the US is its delegation to United Nations headquarters in New York.