Hassan Rouhani

The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey have met several times in a bid to preserve Syrian sovereignty [PPIO]
The leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey have signed a 17-point final communique outlining their trilateral approach to stabilizing Syria but Moscow says there will be no new offensive in the north.
Presidents Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they were committed to “the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic”.

The Trump White House announced the restoration of sanctions against Iran, aimed at choking Tehran’s economy and, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted, “depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world.”
Pomeo said that the sanctions are “aimed at fundamentally altering the behaviour of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Pompeo further added…
“Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country.”

Ahead of the United States’ newest round of sanctions targeting his country, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday accused the Trump administration of “psychological and economic warfare” and of working toward regime change in Iran.

World leaders in the United Nations General Assembly burst out laughing when President Trump boasted about his accomplishments. Trump praised North Korea, attacked Germany and accused Iran of “sowing chaos, death, and destruction,” drawing scorn from Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

The West’s illiberal-bashing frenzy has reduced what should be a crucial debate about a fearful West Against the Rest, to the more pressing issue of The West Against Itself, writes Pepe Escobar. By Pepe Escobar in Paris Special to Consortium…Read more →

Iranian police during protests in the country, Jan. 2, 2018. After Trump’s recent reimposition of US sanctions against Iran, the UN Security Council appears wary of responding to the actions, for good reason. CREATIVE COMMONS

(MEE Op-ed) — US President Donald Trump’s offer of dialogue with Iran without preconditions – which was quickly walked back by his secretary of state – has put the ball in Iran’s court once more. Many believe this is a golden opportunity for Tehran to stroke Trump’s ego and divert him from his path of confrontation by […]

US President Donald Trump came out Monday with a statement that he was willing to meet with Iran’s leadership ‘anytime they want to’ and that there would ‘no preconditions, if they they want to meet, I’ll meet’, during a press conference with the Italian Prime Minister.
A couple of hours later, US Secretary of State issued comments which would seem to contradict Trump’s message by expressing that there are, in fact, preconditions to such a meeting.

(ZHE) — President Trump said on Monday that he is willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with “no preconditions,” exactly one week after he blasted out a fiery all-caps threat to the regime over Twitter. “I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet. I don’t know if they’re ready yet,” Trump said, responding […]

UPDATE (via Zerohedge):
A day after an Australian ABC report went viral with the claim that the White House has drawn up plans to strike Iran’s alleged nuclear facilities as early as next month, Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Friday morning it’s a “complete fiction”.