President Trump: We will not lift sanctions on Iran at any cost
US President Donald Trump said about the situation in Iran that their financial situation is very dire, their inflation rate is unprecedented, and their conditions are very distressing. He said: "They can solve this problem quickly. We can solve it in 24 hours. We will have to see what happens."
President Trump added that the sanctions will not be lifted under any circumstances.
President Trump said on Wednesday, September 4, on the sidelines of a meeting to review the status of Hurricane Dorian in his office at the White House, in response to a question about Iran: “I can only say that when you hear that they have had their worst year in … over the last 50 years, over the last half century, I think they want to solve their problem.”
Regarding the possibility of meeting with the Iranian president on the sidelines of the UN World Assembly, the US president said: "Anything is possible. They want their problem solved. They have a very big problem. We'll have to see what happens."
In response to a reporter's question about whether there was a possibility of meeting Hassan Rouhani with Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President Trump said: "I don't know. I'm very grateful for what President Macron has done. But we don't pursue issues through Emmanuel Macron. The others are in direct contact with us, and we don't need to pursue issues through other countries. We could have gotten help from Japan if we wanted to. Japan is one of their main [oil] buyers. ... But we don't need others to make an agreement, and if we want to, we will pursue it directly ourselves."
Referring to the offer of assistance from other countries to resolve this issue, the US President emphasized that everyone, even at this very G7 summit, said that they do not want Iran to be equipped with nuclear weapons and that Iran should not have access to nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
President Trump, in response to a reporter's question about the Iranians saying they would not negotiate until the United States returns to the JCPOA, said: "No! That was not their last statement. But they said it in another way until certain actions are taken... for example, the sanctions are lifted. But that's not going to happen. Of course, they didn't put it the way you said; but that was their ultimate point, and that's not going to happen."
The United States imposed new sanctions against Iran on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Source: Voice of America
