WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran faces big trouble if it behaves badly, while saying he is open to meeting the Iranian president. Analysts read the remarks as a strategy to open negotiations with Tehran around the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Fox News reporter Trey Yingst said on the 20th that he had spoken with Trump by phone, and that the president described himself as being in "deciding mode" and said something very big would happen in the not-too-distant future. According to Yingst, Trump laid out three options: wiping Iran out, strangling it economically, or reaching a deal. Trump said the question was when to blow up the entire country, warning that big trouble could follow if Iran behaves badly. On whether he would meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the General Assembly, Trump said he would probably be open to it.
Mark Pfeifle, a Republican strategist and former staffer at the White House National Security Council, told Al Jazeera the comments were nothing more than an attempt to grab public attention. What Trump wants, he said, is to apply enough pressure on the Iranian side that they talk directly, one on one, when they come to New York for the General Assembly, rather than trading barbs through social media and intermediaries. He said the United States and Iran are competing over which side can apply greater pressure on the other.
Pezeshkian is scheduled to attend the General Assembly this week and to speak on the 23rd. Reuters reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also departed for New York the same day to attend the assembly. Trump is set to address the General Assembly on the 22nd, and reports said he would hold summit talks the same day with six Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
Iran said it has presented the United States with seven conditions for resuming negotiations. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary-general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in an interview with Al Jazeera on the 19th that Tehran had conveyed seven conditions to Washington, including an end to the war on all fronts, the release of Iran's frozen funds and the lifting of a naval blockade.
Separately, Yingst said Trump also stated that the United States remains in contact with Yemen's pro-Iran Houthi rebels and that the group has agreed not to fight U.S. forces.
