Pezeshkian Says Atmosphere of Distrust Clouds US-Iran Relations

CBS News

Iranian President Masoud Prezeshkian.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said there was an "atmosphere of distrust" between Iran and the US when asked whether he would have been willing to meet with President Trump in New York this week, an idea raised by the US leader.

Pezeshkian, during an interview with "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" Friday, suggested that he would need to know "what exactly we want to reach an understanding on," after running through a list of the times the US has attacked Iran while the countries were in the midst of negotiations. 

But he also said Iran would "abide by whatever we commit to" if the US accepts the latest Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iran's foreign minister offered a proposal this week to reopen the strait after seven days and restart talks with the US as an initial step toward a final nuclear deal. The US has yet to respond to the Iranian proposal, which was announced during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. 

Mr. Trump had expressed openness to meeting with Iranian officials in New York. Although top Trump officials held indirect talks with Iranian officials through mediators, the president himself did not. During his speech to the General Assembly, Mr. Trump said he has a "big decision to make" on whether to cut a deal with Iran or "annihilate" the country. He also predicted that the two sides will not reach an agreement until after the midterms.

Pezeshkian suggested it would be difficult for him to meet face-to-face with Mr. Trump, pointing to an "atmosphere of distrust that has developed between Iran and the United States."

"As long as they don't cease doing what they're imposing on us every day, it's difficult to trust them," he said. "Every day, they increase the sanctions against us. Every day, they threaten us. Every day, they strike us. And they don't honor what they have put in writing. So if they engage in talks, will they actually follow through?"

Brennan asked when Iran expects a response from the United States on its offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart negotiations.

"If this message reaches the president of the United States, or the interviewers and those involved in the discussions, naturally the process will begin from the very day they accept it," he said. 

He blamed the US for the collapse of the ceasefire agreement known as the "memorandum of understanding," or MOU, over the summer, after Iran targeted commercial shipping vessels and the US responded by carrying out attacks on Iran. 

The US has insisted Iran should not control the waterways entering the Strait of Hormuz, including those that pass Omani territory, or charge tolls for ships that pass through. Iran has demanded that ships seek permission and follow an Iranian-approved shipping route.

"If they operate according to that framework, I think all of us will abide by it," he said of the original U.S.-Iran agreement. 

The 60-day ceasefire deal that fell apart in July was designed to buy time for Iran and the US to hold talks on the future of Iran's nuclear program — a thorny issue that both sides have struggled to reach a deal on. 

In recent years, Iran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels of purity, and while it denies any interest in building a nuclear weapon, it has refused to give up uranium enrichment altogether.

Mr. Trump has said in the past that Iran must stop enriching uranium — a more hardline stance than the Obama-era nuclear deal that allowed Iran to enrich to a low level, with limits on the size of its program and international inspectors.

Pezeshkian told Brennan Iran would now allow UN nuclear inspectors into the country.  

"That is absolutely correct," he said. 

Brennan pointed out that inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency were not given full access when they tried before. 


"Will your country allow in weapons inspectors now?" Brennan asked again. 

"That is absolutely correct," he responded again, adding, "If they wish to come in and have inspections, we can reach accords and agreements vis-à-vis that specific topic within the negotiations."

At the same time, Pezeshkian claims that Iran is not trying to build a nuclear weapon: "Developing nuclear weapons is haram," he said, using the word forbidden, maintaining that even if some in Iran wanted to build a nuclear weapon, "religiously speaking, they are not allowed to pursue that path." 

Brennan asked Pezeshkian about his communications with Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, who has not been seen in public since the US-Israeli attack that killed his father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, earlier this year. 

The Iranian president insisted the new supreme leader has "no specific ongoing health issues or challenges," and said they last met twice, once for over seven hours. He said they were seated "for those many hours" and "changed angles and positions" because they were unaccustomed to being seated for so long.

"From a medical standpoint, he's completely healthy," Pezeshkian said, adding that injuries to his face and legs have recovered. "Hear this from me as a physician, and accept it. He has no issues."

When asked whether Mojtaba Khamenei is advising Pezeshkian on diplomacy, the president explained that there is a team "consisting of six members of various organizations, security forces, parliamentary representatives, government agencies, and they sit and conduct talks, consultations about decision-making processes, and reach any decisions through coordination."

Brennan said it was notable for the Iranians to be in a country they're at war with, when they were in shelters only months earlier. 

"We were not in a shelter a few months ago," he said. "How did we manage the country?"

"It's not as if we were in a shelter," Pezeshkian added. "If we were in a shelter, nothing would have gotten done."

Interview was conducted by CBS.



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