Then Trump’s Sept. 19 speech happened. As the US president was leaving the General Assembly podium, an Iranian official shook his head, simply said, “He ruined it,” and walked away.

“We’d like them [the Trump administration] to hear what we have to say [about the nuclear deal],” one presidential adviser said at the time, hours after arriving in New York with the Iranian delegation. “As long as they’re not disrespectful, of course,” the adviser added. During the course of the same conversation, one of the reporters covering the General Assembly last year suggested that the Iranian president go on Fox News if Iran really wants Trump’s ear. The idea wasn’t rejected right away. But when the conversation came up again a few days later, the appetite for such a maneuver had dissipated.

However, it should equally be noted that just days before the United States reached out, as Rouhani arrived in New York for the gathering of world leaders, some of his senior advisers were not only open but in fact eager to engage with the new US administration — without preconditions.

The request for a meeting was initially made by US State Department officials who got in touch with their French counterparts to ask President Emmanuel Macron to convey Trump’s message to Rouhani, who addressed the UN a day after Trump. French interlocutors initially had a hard time connecting the French president to his Iranian counterpart, according to a US diplomat who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “There was a lot of back and forth in a short period of time,” the envoy said. Getting hold of Rouhani proved difficult, as he appeared to be in a long meeting. Finally, after numerous attempts, the Iranian and French presidents got on the phone. What precisely was said remains a question mark. One French official told Al-Monitor, “The Elysee does not comment on the president’s private meetings or calls.” But the Iranians have recently divulged some details. Last month, Rouhani’s chief of staff told reporters that Iran rejected not one but eight requests from the United States for a meeting of their presidents.

The plan was for 8:30 p.m. at the hotel where Iran’s president was staying. That’s where President Donald Trump wanted to meet Hassan Rouhani for the first time last year in New York. The idea was for the encounter to take place a number of hours after Trump's Sept. 19 speech at the United Nations General Assembly, which was characterized by harsh criticism of the country whose president Trump now wanted to sit down with. The US president had said, “The Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy. … It is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran’s government end its pursuit of death and destruction.”

From that point on, it wasn’t so much that the Iranians didn’t think Trump was serious — but rather that they had a hard time taking him seriously.

“This is not some sort of reality show, where we’ll just come in front of the cameras to show off and shake hands, then recklessly gamble on the future,” a high-ranking Iranian official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity this week.

Indeed, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Aug. 13, “This issue for them is a game, a cliche and politically worthless. One person says no preconditions, another person sets preconditions. … There will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US.”

After almost 40 years, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had opened an unprecedented channel where the United States and Iran could sit and talk face-to-face, but the Trump administration slammed the door on it, US and Iranian experts as well as officials agree.

“After all, two high-ranking officials talked directly for many years,” said one adviser to the Iranian president, referring to the often-long discussions between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and then-US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Iran has always maintained that those talks were within the framework of the nuclear deal. However, “Iran’s [supreme] leader even said that if the nuclear talks go well, Tehran would be open to discussing other matters with the West,” Iran's ambassador to the UN, Gholamali Khoshroo, told Al-Monitor. But an Iranian official traveling with Rouhani in September said, “They [the US administration] had their chance and blew it.”

On the day that Trump asked to meet with Rouhani, there had already been two encounters between Iranian and US officials on the sidelines of the General Assembly — both opportunities for the two sides to at least lay the groundwork for dialogue.

The first encounter was a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting at the deputy foreign minister level, and the second was a high-level ministerial meeting in the same setting, where then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met his Iranian counterpart for the first time. With the US withdrawal from the JCPOA in May, this platform for dialogue with Iran no longer exists.

Fast forwarding to the present, it has become clear that Trump’s style of “winging it” has never gone over well with the Iranians, who have always taken a more cautious and measured approach when dealing with the United States. Some of the caution and insistence on protocol may be because of domestic politics, which is increasingly putting Rouhani under pressure.

Indeed, lawmakers in Tehran have summoned the Iranian president to parliament to answer questions about his government’s economic policies. Members of parliament are also expected to ask about the mechanisms in place following the US violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the JCPOA. Rouhani is likely to appear before parliament prior to embarking on his annual trip to New York next month to take part in the UN General Assembly. How or whether his appearance in parliament will affect his administration’s approach and policies toward the United States is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, the Rouhani administration appears confident that it will weather the storm and will be able to work with the international community under the rules and regulations of the United Nations. As such, the current sentiment among Iranian officials is one of resistance to the Trump administration’s policies.

“Iran is already going through a very difficult period internally because of sanctions, the currency collapse, and loss of hope that the nuclear deal would change the country’s trajectory,” said Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council and an Al-Monitor contributor. “New talks with the US could at least provide the potential of a better situation, even if it’s hard to trust the Trump administration’s motives,” she added.

People in Iran are very opinionated about the prospect of reopening talks with the United States.

Kareem, a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition his last name be withheld, said, “Hearing Trump say he’s willing to talk to Iranians without preconditions, after abandoning the nuclear deal and imposing sanctions on us, reminds me of when Saddam Hussein had confiscated seven of Iran’s provinces and then wanted to sit down and negotiate … without preconditions.”

Golnaz Azari, a single mother to two young boys ages 8 and 14, said, “We voted for Rouhani and his team because they are known to favor diplomacy and dialogue. I worry about the future of my kids, but I don’t believe Trump. My sense is that Trump’s advisers want to wait until the oil sanctions kick in Nov. 4, before any steps that might alleviate the pressure on Iran.”

For Iran, the long-term alternative to talks with the United States would be to wait out Trump’s term in office while continuing to engage with the rest of the world. The Iranians may also be adopting a wait-and-see approach, keeping a close eye on the upcoming congressional midterm elections, which could lead to Democratic control of the House and Senate and provide Trump opponents with the means to put pressure on the White House. Indeed, the Rouhani administration has not shut the door on diplomacy, hinting that it may be open to direct talks if the United States returns to the JCPOA and shows “respect.”

Next month, Trump and Rouhani will address the UN General Assembly on the same day. There are so far no reports of “planned” meetings on any level.

“It is possible, however, that Kim Jong-un might make his first appearance at [the UN General Assembly], which would suck all the diplomatic oxygen out of the room,” Slavin said.

But if Kim does indeed show up, it may actually raise the chances of some sort of US-Iran engagement, especially as all eyes will be focused elsewhere. When it comes to the fraught relationship between the United States and Iran, at least one side prefers to stay out of the spotlight — particularly under the current circumstances.