ROUHANI: Iran ready to hold conditional talks with US

In a dramatic turnaround, Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran is ready to restart talks with the US, if Washington lifts sanctions against it and returns to the 2015 nuclear deal that they walked away from last year.

In a rare televised statement, broadcast last night [Sunday, 14 July, 2019] Rouhani said “We have always believed in talks ... if they lift sanctions, end the imposed economic pressure and return to the deal, we are ready to hold talks with America today, right now and anywhere.”

However, US secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in an interview with the Washington Post, was dismissive of Iran´s offer saying that it was essentially “the same offer that he offered to John F. Kerry and Barack Obama” going on to say that “President Trump will obviously make the final decision. But this is a path that the previous administration had gone down and it led to the (Iran nuclear deal) which this administration, President Trump and I both believe was a disaster”

Tensions between Washington [and it´s allies] and Tehran have escalated in recent months after Iran shot down an unmanned US spy drone and are cited by the US as the protagonists of recent "limpet mine" attacks on two US tankers in the Strait of Hormuz resulting in increased sanctions against Tehran, this time including, this time members of its ruling council.