President Hassan Rouhani of Iran rejected claims by Donald Trump that he or any of his officials had ever sought a meeting with the US president. Such a meeting, said the Iranian President, would not be “appropriate”.
President Rouhani made the remarks during an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN on September 25 in New York. On his visit to attend the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian president has met with or will meet other world leaders but not Trump.
On Tuesday (September 25), resorting to pronouncements by tweets, Trump wrote on his twitter account: @realDonaldTrump:
Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man. 6:53 am, Sep. 25.
This was an utter lie but Trump is a habitual liar. It is in his genes. He lies, he cheats and is totally unreliable. Why would the president of Iran waste time with a moron whose mental capacity, according to his own Defence Secretary James Mattis is that of a “fifth or sixth grader”?
To make sure his point was properly understood, President Rouhani said the Islamic Republic had not requested a meeting between the two leaders.
“Not this year, nor last year,” he told Amanpour of CNN. “We have never made such a request for a meeting with the president of the United States.”
Exposing what had really transpired, President Rouhani said that Iran had received eight requests from US officials for a meeting last year. All of them were turned down because he did not think talks between the two sides were “appropriate,” then or now.
The Iranian president was being polite when he said such a meeting would not be “appropriate”. He should have said it would be a complete waste of time.
The Rahbar of the Islamic Republic, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamene’i has ruled out any talks with US officials since Trump unilaterally pulled out of the JCPOA (aka the Iran nuclear deal) in May. The agreement was hammered over years of negotiations and signed by six countries and Iran. The UN also endorsed this through Security Council resolution no: 2231. Despite this, Trump just walked away!
Trump is desperate for a meeting with Iranian officials. This is his style; he first tries to bully others by making outlandish allegations (supporting terrorism when Iran is the victim of US-Saudi-Zionist backed terrorism as was witnessed most recently in Ahvaz on September 22) and imposing illegal sanctions and then seeks a meeting to present himself as statesman. This is what he did with Kim Jung un of North Korea.
What Trump fails to realize—and he will never understand given his mental limitations—is that Iran is not North Korea. The leadership of the Islamic Republic does not play games. They are sophisticated people with a history dating several thousand years.
America has no history. As Oscar Wilde said: “America has gone from barbarism to decadence without going through civilization.” Trump is a typical specimen of this reality: uncouth, unreliable and vulgar.
Trump does not deserve to be honored with a handshake with the President or any other official of the Islamic Republic of Iran.