Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday that that the U.S. had offered to lift all sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for talks-a claim that the U.S. has denied.
Referring to possible negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, Rouhani said, as carried by the English translation on his official website:
"Of course, 3 out of the 6 countries, that is the Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of Britain, and President of France all insisted for the meeting to be held, saying that the US would lift all sanctions."
"But the problem here is that under sanctions and maximum pressure, even if we want to negotiate with the Americans within the framework of P5+1, nobody can predict about the end and upshot of the negotiation," the Iranian president said.
"It was up for debate what sanctions will be lifted and they had said clearly that we will lift all sanctions," Rouhani added, as carried by Reuters.
The U.S. Department of State described these reports as "baseless," according to Bloomberg News.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday "Iran wanted me to lift the sanctions imposed on them in order to meet. I said, of course, NO!"
Tension is running high again between the U.S. and Iran, after the attacks on the Abqaiq facility and the Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia on September 14, which the United States, and several European countries including the UK, blamed on Iran.
Iran denies involvement in the attacks, while the U.S. continues with its maximum pressure campaign and continues to go after any person, entity, or tanker dealing with Iranian oil.
Earlier this week, the United States imposed sanctions on a number of Chinese tanker owning firms and executives for transporting Iranian oil in violation of the U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The fresh sanctions created chaos in the oil shipping sector as traders and shippers around the world scramble to avoid being involved in the latest U.S. sanctions regarding Iranian oil.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Comments
The US does not waive tariffs on China to get them back to the negotiating table.
The US does not lift sanctions on North Korea to get them back to the negotiating table.
But all of a sudden they change policy and will lift sanctions for the opportunity to sit down at the negotiating table with Iran, who historically, like China, never honor any agreements reached in any case!
Does this sound like BS to anyone else?
Iran made its position on negotiations clear, namely that it will never negotiate with the Americans unless all sanctions against it are lifted.
The balance in power in the Gulf has definitely shifted in favour of Iran. US sanctions against Iranian oil exports have so far failed miserably. Moreover, Iran’s allies the Houthis of Yemen have inflicted severe damage on some very sensitive Saudi oil infrastructure with impunity and, furthermore, Iran believes it has already won the war for the Middle East without even firing one shot. Moreover, the vulnerability of Saudi oil installations has been exposed to the world with the whole Saudi oil industry becoming hostage to Iran and its allies.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London