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Brian Hook: Trump is willing to talk to Iran

24 June 2019 19:32 (UTC +04:00)

US President Donald Trump is ready to talk to Iran about a deal that would lift American sanctions but Tehran would need to curtail its nuclear and missile programs, as well as its support for proxies, a senior U.S. official said on Monday, APA reports citing Reuters.

U.S. Special Representative on Iran Brian Hook told reporters that the United States was looking to agree a treaty that would be ratified by the U.S. Congress, saying the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers was flawed because it had no legal basis.

“This is a president who is very willing to sit down with Iran. I think the question people should be asking is why Iran continues to reject diplomacy.” Hook said, speaking by telephone from Oman, where he is touring Gulf countries before heading to Paris to explain U.S. policy to European powers.

The United States withdrew last year from the 2015 accord under which Iran accepted curbs to its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. Throughout the escalation, both sides have suggested they would be willing to hold talks, but the other side must move first. Iran says the United States must lift the sanctions in reimposed since abandoning the deal last year. Hook, who accused Tehran of “violent responses to diplomatic pressure,” said Iran could come to the negotiating table or watch its economy “continue to crumble.”

“They are in a recession now, it is going to get significantly worse,” he said ahead of an expected announcement later on Monday on further U.S. sanctions.