United States President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani under the right circumstances, BBC reported. This came a day after Iran’s foreign minister made an unannounced visit to the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, which Trump was also attending.

“Iran is not the same country it was two and a half years ago when I came into office,” Trump was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the summit. “I really believe that Iran can be a great nation... but they can’t have nuclear weapons.” The United States president also said that Iran had to be “good players” before he agreed to a meeting.

Rouhani, on the same day, said that he was ready to meet anyone if it would be beneficial for his country. “If I am sure that attending a session or having a meeting with someone will help develop my country and resolving the people’s problems, I will not hesitate to do so,” Rouhani said.

French President Emmanuel Macron also hinted at a possible meeting between Trump and Rouhani, saying that “conditions for a meeting” had been created. “Nothing is for sure, things are eminently fragile,” AFP quoted him as saying.

Friction between Iran and the United States has increased ever since the US walked out of the Iran nuclear deal last year. Since then, Washington has imposed sanctions on Tehran, which in return suspended the implementation of some of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.


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