Although President Trump said Monday that he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at "any time," it looks like that meeting won't be happening any time soon — multiple Iranian officials have played down the possibility of a sit-down, without ruling it out entirely.
The leaders of the U.S. and Iran have not met in person since before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. A phone call between Rouhani and former President Obama in 2013 was the first direct conversation of any kind in decades. That call was part of the lengthy negotiations toward the multinational nuclear deal reached with Iran in 2015 — which Trump pulled out of earlier this year.
As a result of Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement, some previously lifted U.S. sanctions will be reimposed on Iran over the next few months.
Last week, after Rouhani said that "peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars," Trump responded with an all-caps, late-night tweet warning of "CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE" if Iran should "THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN."
"COLOR US UNIMPRESSED," Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif responded on Twitter. "The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago."
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04.28.2025