Mike Pompeo: Trump's Negotiation with Ayatollah Khamenei Would Be Interesting and Important

On Sunday, October 1, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced President Donald Trump's interest in meeting with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stating, "That would be an interesting and important negotiation." In an interview with the host of "Fox News Sunday," Pompeo discussed the potential for Trump to meet with "Iranian officials" on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, saying, "I still don't know if the President has a plan to meet (with them) or not. If a constructive dialogue with Iran is to take place, the President (Trump) would be happy to do it. He is interested in this negotiation." When asked if this included President Rouhani, he stated, "The leader of Iran is Ayatollah Khamenei. He is the one in control of the country. I think that negotiation would be interesting and important." The host asked Pompeo if he meant that the President was willing to meet with Ayatollah Khamenei, to which Pompeo replied, "The President has said he is willing to negotiate with anyone who seeks constructive dialogue." This is not the first time U.S. officials have expressed readiness to negotiate with Iran over deep-seated differences between the two countries. Trump first announced his willingness to talk with Tehran officials "without any conditions" on July 30. However, after Iranian leaders reacted negatively to this request, he stated on September 5, "We will see what happens regarding Iran. Whether they want to talk or not depends on them, not me. I will always be available, but it doesn't matter if it happens or not." Iranian officials have stated that the U.S. is "not trustworthy" due to its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA, and on the other hand, according to Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, "a meeting for the sake of meeting has no meaning." The Iranian leader also announced on August 13 that he had made a mistake by allowing nuclear negotiations and therefore "prohibits negotiations." Iran's currency and economic problems have intensified following the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, to the extent that Trump stated, "Iran is currently in complete chaos, and they are only thinking about saving themselves as a country." In another part of his interview with Fox News, Pompeo accused Iran of seeking to harm U.S. interests. He stated, "Look at the past few weeks. They targeted U.S. interests inside Iraq, in Basra and Baghdad. We ask Iran, as the biggest supporter of terrorism, to stop its support. But there are no signs that they are pursuing this important matter." Regarding the attack on Saturday in Ahvaz and Zarif's accusation of U.S. involvement in the incident, he said, "I saw (Mohammad Javad) Zarif's comments. When you witness a security incident in your country and then blame others, that is a very big mistake." Pompeo emphasized, "The killing of innocent people is a tragedy. I ask Zarif to focus on the security of his own people instead of trying to create insecurity around the world." Zarif tweeted on Saturday, "Terrorists trained and armed by a foreign regime attacked Ahvaz. Children and journalists are among the dead. Iran holds regional terror supporters and their American masters responsible for such attacks." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also made a similar claim on Sunday. Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and the United Arab Emirates rejected the claims of Iranian officials in statements.