{"id":40971,"date":"2019-09-26T10:25:08","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40971"},"modified":"2019-09-26T10:25:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:25:08","slug":"libyan-strongman-haftar-says-open-to-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40971","title":{"rendered":"Libyan strongman Haftar says open to dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nUNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Wednesday that the United States \u201cpay more\u201d for any agreement that goes beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Washington abandoned.<\/p>\n

\nRouhani also rejected meeting US\u00a0President Donald Trump while the two are in New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, but both US and Iranian officials suggested they have some interest in a negotiation.<\/p>\n

\nIt remains unclear how one might happen given Tehran\u2019s demand that Washington first ease sanctions that have blighted its economy and the US imposition of fresh penalties as part of its \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur response to talks under pressure is \u2018No,\u2019\u201d Rouhani said in a speech to the General Assembly even as the United States tightened the vise by blacklisting Chinese firms for dealing in Iranian oil despite US sanctions.<\/p>\n

\nThe US-Iranian confrontation has ratcheted up since last year, when Trump withdrew from Iran\u2019s nuclear deal with major powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Islamic republic\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\nTrump wants to go beyond that deal to further curb Iran\u2019s nuclear program, halt its ballistic missile work and end its support for proxy forces in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIf you wish more, if you require more, you should give and pay more,\u201d Rouhani said in his General Assembly address, without giving details.<\/p>\n

\nIn his own speech on Tuesday, Trump accused Iranian leaders of \u201cbloodlust\u201d and called on other nations to put pressure on Iran after Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi oil facilities that Washington blames on Tehran despite its denials.<\/p>\n

\nThe United States plans to increase its military presence in Saudi Arabia following the attacks.<\/p>\n

\nRouhani, however, said the Gulf region is \u201con the edge of collapse, as a single blunder can fuel a big fire,\u201d and vowed to respond \u201cdecisively and strongly\u201d to any foreign violation of its security or territorial integrity.<\/p>\n

\nTrump had said there was still a path to peace and Rouhani has left the door open to diplomacy, saying that if sanctions were lifted, Washington could join nuclear talks between Tehran and other powers.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe want a peaceful resolution with the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, saying it was up to Iran. \u201cWe hope we get the opportunity to negotiate with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe United States has also been reaching out to Iranian officials to discuss the fate of American nationals held in Iran, a US State Department official said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nNo Trump-Rouhani meeting seen<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nDespite French and British leaders urging Rouhani to sit down with Trump, an Iranian official told Reuters there was no chance the US and Iranian presidents would meet this week.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe chances of a meeting are zero. They know what to do,\u201d the official said. The official said the United States should return to the 2015 deal, lift sanctions and end the maximum pressure campaign.<\/p>\n

\nUnder that deal, Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions that constricted its ability to trade with the world.<\/p>\n

\nAfter abandoning the deal, Trump in May tightened sanctions on Iran in an effort to reduce its oil exports \u2014 its main source of foreign exchange and government revenues \u2014 to zero.<\/p>\n

\nOn Wednesday, the United States sanctioned five Chinese people and six entities it accused of knowingly transferring oil from Iran in violation of Washington\u2019s curbs on Tehran. The entities include two Cosco Shipping subsidiaries but not the parent company itself.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is one of the largest sanctions actions the United States has taken against entities and individuals identified as transporting Iranian oil since our sanctions were re-imposed in November 2018,\u201d Pompeo said in a statement on the move.<\/p>\n

\nWhile it at first fully adhered to the deal despite Trump\u2019s withdrawal, Iran has gradually reduced its compliance and has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which an estimated one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes.<\/p>\n

\nThe United States has blamed Iran for a series of actions since May \u2014 some of which Iran has denied – that have roiled oil markets, including attacks on half a dozen tankers, shooting down a US drone and the Sept. 14 attacks on Aramco facilities.<\/p>\n

\nThe air strikes on the heartland of Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil industry damaged the world\u2019s biggest petroleum-processing facility and knocked out more than 5% of global oil supply.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis cannot go unanswered, there has to be consequences for Iran for what they did,\u201d Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said. He said Riyadh was consulting others and that its options included diplomatic and economic steps.<\/p>\n

\nThe United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia have blamed the attack on Iran, instead of the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthi group, which claimed responsibility. Iran distanced itself from the attacks but said it was ready for \u201cfull-fledged\u201d war.<\/p>\n

\nIn the penultimate sentence of his UN speech, Rouhani raised the possibility of talks.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is the message of the Iranian nation: Let\u2019s invest on hope towards a better future rather than in war and violence,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s return to justice; to peace; to law, commitment and promise and finally to the negotiating table.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Wednesday that the United States \u201cpay more\u201d for any agreement that goes beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Washington abandoned. Rouhani also rejected meeting US\u00a0President Donald Trump while the two are in New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, but both US…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}