Following Tuesday’s revelation of how close the situation came to a phone call between President Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Rouhani has come forward to offer additional details on what happened, and why.



Rouhani says the failure of the talks to come together was on Trump, and that Iran has made very clear what the path to dialogue would be. French officials assured him they were aware of that.



The problem, according to Rouhani, is that France was promising the US would deliver sanctions relief for the talks, while Trump made multiple speeches in the 24 hours leading up to the call attacking Iran, vowing more sanctions, and suggesting they wouldn’t entertain sanctions relief.



“I said to our European friends: it’s good but who should we believe? Should we believe what you are saying, that America is ready, or what the US president is saying?” Rouhani noted. Ultimately, the talks never happened.



This appears to be where some of the reports immediately post UN General Assembly came from, like reports that the US was offering sanctions relief, while Trump was denying that. Clearly France was trying to sell this call on the premise of sanctions relief, but it’s not clear whether that was ultimately a real thing.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz