Iran responds to Trump’s call for new negotiations

Tabnak – While sticking to his policy of imposing maximum pressure on Iran, US President Donald Trump calls for meeting with the Iranian officials and starting new talks on the nuclear issue. Pointing to Trump’s unpredictability of lack of commitment to international treaties, Iranian officials downplay his seriousness on talking about a new deal.

Amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran over the Trump administration’s hegemonic policy towards the Islamic Republic, Trump has said that he wants Iranians to call him. “What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

But then he said he would not rule out the possibility of military action in Iran amid escalating tensions before slamming former Secretary of State John Kerry for his involvement in the issue.

He said Kerry should be prosecuted under the Logan Act for speaking with Iranian officials and denouncing Trump's policy on the Islamic Republic. “John Kerry speaks to them a lot, and John Kerry tells them not to call. That’s a violation of the Logan Act, and frankly he should be prosecuted on that,” Trump said.

In response, Iran’s envoy to the UN rejected Trump's call for new negotiations with Tehran, saying Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal signals that he may "renege again" on any future talks.

"All of a sudden he decided to leave the negotiating table. What is the guarantee that he will not renege again on the future talks between Iran and the United States?" said Majid Takht Ravanchi in an interview with the MSNBC TV network Thursday.

The Iranian envoy stressed that Trump had "torn up" the deal despite the fact that it was a multilateral nuclear accord signed by world powers and backed by the UN Security Council.

"The president [Trump] just said that what he wants from Iran is to not have nuclear weapons, apparently he hasn't read the 14 reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saying that Iran has been upholding all its obligations based on the JCPOA nuclear deal," Takht Ravanchi added.

Meanwhile, Former Secretary of State John Kerry fired back at President Trump on Thursday after the president said he should be prosecuted under the Logan Act for speaking to Iranian officials.

"Everything President Trump said today is simply wrong, end of story," a spokesperson for Kerry told CNN. "He's wrong about the facts, wrong about the law, and sadly he's been wrong about how to use diplomacy to keep America safe."