New York (September 26, 2018): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani categorically denied that he has asked for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
“Not this year, nor last year,” President Rouhani told the journalists. “We have never made such a request for a meeting with the President of the United States.”
Trump started his second day at the UN General Assembly in typical fashion, with an early morning tweet. He wrote, “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!”
And as for being called ‘a lovely man’ by someone who labelled his country ‘the leading state sponsor of terror’, Rouhani dismissed the comment, saying Trump is ‘playing with words and will not get us to any solutions’.
Earlier on September 25, US president Donald Trump had urged the international community to join the US in isolating Iran as he delivered a combative speech to the United Nations.
In a keynote address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr. Trump began by focusing on his own political achievements, claiming that his administration had accomplished “almost more than any other administration in the history of our country”. His statement elicited laughter from the packed chamber, prompting Mr. Trump to say “didn’t expect that reaction”. 
While last year Mr. Trump denounced North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “little Rocket Man” this year he thanked Mr. Kim for his “courage”, highlighting the dialogue between the US and North Korea under his presidency.
Instead, Mr. Trump turned his ire to Iran. Months after the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, Mr Trump denounced the Iranian regime as the “leading sponsor of terrorism”.
“We cannot allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the world’s most dangerous weapons,” he said.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Trump hit on many of the protectionist themes that helped propel him to the White House. Denouncing countries for taking advantage of America’s economy, he said that his administration had already started to renegotiate “broken and bad trade deals”. America would “not be taken advantage of any longer,” he said.
Related News:
