Iran Says Its President Turned Down a Meeting With Trump

[DonViejo]

By Zaid Sabah
October 29, 2017, 5:54 PM EDT

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rebuffed a request from U.S. President Donald Trump to meet at the United Nations in New York in September, a day after the Trump made a speech highly critical of the Islamic republic, the state-run Fars News Agency said.

“A request indeed was made by the U.S. side but it wasn’t accepted by President Rouhani,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said at a press conference on Sunday, according to Fars. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Ghassemi, though, denied earlier reports that French president Emmanuel Macron had been prepared to mediate a meeting between the two leaders, Fars reported.

Trump lashed out at Iran in remarks to the United Nations on Sept. 19, saying the trappings of democracy there masked a “corrupt dictatorship.”

Iran must be forced to “end its pursuit of death and destruction,” Trump said in his first speech to the UN General Assembly. “Above all, Iran’s government must stop supporting terrorists, begin serving its own people and respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors.”

more
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-29/iran-s-rouhani-said-to-reject-trump-s-request-to-meet-at-un

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Gee, I wonder if the leaders of Asia, during this trip will turn their backs on him...

musing on my part.....

[procon]

2. Does Trump think he's trying to intimidate CEOs in a hostile corporate takeover?

Trump is an ignoramus! First he insults them, threatens them, then says he plans to destroy them unless they meet his demands, and he was probably clueless when that didn't work. He probably expected that his chest pounding theatrics would be enough to frighten Iran into complying with his demands. Maybe that bully boy tactic works with the businesses he's accustomed to dealing with, but it doesn't play well with the heads of sovereign states.