CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour has quoted Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as saying that President Hassan Rouhani is willing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in New York this week if sanctions are scrapped in exchange for “permanent monitoring” of Iran’s nuclear activities.
Amanpour tweeted the news late on September 22, after another tweet where again she quoted Zarif saying, “The olive branch has always been on the table, but we’re showing it again”.
There has been no statement from Zarif himself about what Amanpour has attributed to him.
But in the days following the September 14 attack on Saudi oil installations all official statements from both Iran and the United States have shown the opposite, that the chances for a meeting are almost non-existent.
Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei last week completely ruled out any talks with the U.S. at any level.