US President Donald Trump said Monday he could not rule out a meeting with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations this week, but no encounter was yet scheduled.
Speculation has been rife over whether the leaders of the two arch-foes would finally meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, with France s Emmanuel Macron trying to broker what would be a historic rendezvous.
The chances of this happening have seemingly diminished in the wake of a dramatic attack on Saudi oil facilities blamed by the United States on Iran, which denies being involved.
“I never rule anything out,” Trump told reporters, but added that he had “nothing scheduled at this moment.”
Macron is cautiously hopeful for a breakthrough and is seeking to bring the two together.
Adding to the suspense, the French president revealed that he consulted informally with Trump on Monday, will see Rouhani later that evening, and plans to meet with the US president again on Tuesday.
“I ll do everything I can so that conditions are created for discussion,” he told reporters.
However Trump responded to his efforts by saying “we don t need a mediator.”
The Iranians “know whom to call,” he said.
Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May last year when Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal and began reimposing sanctions on Iran in a campaign of “maximum pressure.”
Following the Group of Seven summit in France in August, though, Trump spoke openly of his willingness to meet his Iranian counterpart face-to-face, if the conditions were right.
Trump is fond of the optics of high-profile meetings — his summits with North Korea s Kim Jong Un are testament to that — and a summit would mark a diplomatic coup a year ahead of his re-election bid.
He tempered his enthusiasm, though, after the devastating September 14 attacks on Saudi oil installations that Washington and Riyadh have, to varying degrees, blamed on Tehran.
The attacks heightened tensions and renewed fears of a military escalation in the region.
“Did the chances of a meeting increase with these strikes? No, we have to be clear, we can see that things are getting tense,” Macron said Sunday en route to New York.
“The two main players are there,” he added, referring to the presence of Rouhani and Trump in New York. “Something can happen.”
