Trump says there's a 'good chance' he meets with Iran's Rouhani
President Donald Trump could be open to meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a matter of weeks, he told reporters at the G-7 conference in France on Monday.
"The sanctions are absolutely hurting them horribly," Trump said during a news conference in Biarritz. "I don't want to see that. But we can't let them have a nuclear weapon. So I think there is a really good chance we would meet."
Earlier in the news conference, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed a desire for the parties to meet within weeks. When asked by a reporter if that schedule sounds realistic, Trump agreed.
That potentially expedited timeline — just a few hours earlier, Trump said it was "too soon" to meet with Iranian officials — appears to be the result of pressure from Macron, who has had several phone calls with Rouhani in recent weeks and who invited Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif to the G-7 over the weekend.
France is a member of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal struck in 2015 by several European Union countries, China, Iran and the U.S. to limit Iranian nuclear production in exchange for sanctions relief.
The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement and has since slapped sanctions on key Iranian institutions and individuals, including Zarif. Iran, on the other hand, has surpassed certain limits on nuclear production that the JCPOA agreement imposed.
"I want this meeting to happen, and I want there to be an agreement between the United States and Iran," Macron said earlier on Monday through a translator. "And France will play the role it is meant to play, together with the United Kingdom and Germany and all of the other signatory powers and the permanent members of the (United Nations) security council."
Rouhani has also expressed a desire to negotiate, which could occur at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next month.
"I think he's going to want to meet," Trump said. "I think Iran wants to get this situation straightened out. They're really hurting badly."
