Donald Trump suggests talks with Iran are imminent

Donald Trump has suggested talks with Iran are imminent, despite silence from Tehran to his offer of a meeting.

US President Donald Trump during a rally in Tampa, Florida. Picture: AP.

Tampa: US President Donald Trump has suggested talks with Iran are imminent, despite silence from the Islamic republic’s leaders to his offer of a meeting.

Scepticism was rife in Iran over possible talks, with one politician saying negotiations would be a “humiliation”.

The country’s leaders did not give an immediate response to Mr Trump’s statement on Monday that he would meet them “any time” without preconditions.

“I have a feeling they’ll be talking to us pretty soon,” Mr Trump told a rally in Tampa, Florida, yesterday, adding: “And maybe not, and that’s OK too.”

He also used the occasion to again blast the “horrible, one-sided” 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers from which the American President withdrew.

“It’s a horror show,” Mr Trump said. “I hope it works out well with Iran. They are having a lot of difficulty right now.”

The US is set to start re­imposing full sanctions on Iran from Monday — a move that has ­already contributed to a currency crisis, with the Iranian rial losing two-thirds of its value in six months.

Several Iranian public figures said it was impossible to imagine negotiations with Washington after it tore up the nuclear deal in May. “With the contemptuous statements (Mr Trump) addressed to Iran, the idea of negotiating is ­inconceivable. It would be a ­humiliation,” Deputy Speaker of parliament Ali Motahari said.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said: “America is not trustworthy. After it arro­gantly and unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement, how can it be trusted?”

Only last week, Mr Trump fired off an all-caps tirade at his counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, on Twitter, warning of untold “suffering” if Iran continued to threaten the US.

Many in Iran are therefore suspicious of his latest volte-face. “We cannot negotiate with someone who violates international commitments, threatens to destroy countries, and constantly changes his position,” said analyst Mohammad Marandi, of the University of Tehran, who was part of the ­nuclear negotiating team.

On the streets of Tehran, meanwhile, the focus remained resolutely on Iran’s domestic economic difficulties.

“All of us believe that Trump is the enemy of Iran and Iranian people. But now maybe Trump wants to give the Iranian people an opportunity and, God willing, it could be a way to get past our disastrous situation,” said Hushiar, an office manager in her 50s.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said last month talking to Mr Trump would be “useless”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on Monday said “there is no possibility for talks”, ahead of Mr Trump’s statement in Tampa.

AFP