Trump Says Too Soon to Make Iran Deal After Abe Meets Khamenei
Iran Tells Japan's Abe It Doesn't Intend to Have Nuclear Arms
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump praised Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for meeting with Iran’s supreme leader in an effort to ease tensions with the U.S., but said it’s too soon to make a deal with Tehran.
“While I very much appreciate P.M. Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “They are not ready, and neither are we!”
Trump shows little inclination he’s willing to back off on sanctions he reimposed after abandoning a 2015 accord meant to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Tensions have spiked in the Persian Gulf region since the U.S. halted sanction waivers early last month that had allowed some major importers, including Japan, to continue buying Iranian oil.
The U.S. blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers near the entrance to the Persian Gulf on Thursday as the incidents stoke fears that high-stakes diplomatic efforts won’t avert a military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian officials have denied any involvement.
Supreme Leader Khamenei told Abe that Iran has no nuclear weapons plans, the Japanese leader said after the meeting.
Trump’s Views
Abe, making the first visit of a sitting Japanese prime minister to Iran in 41 years, held talks with Khamenei on Thursday. Abe said he conveyed to Khamenei what he thought were the views of Trump, who sanctioned the visit when he met Abe for a summit in May.
“Ayatollah Khamenei said that he would not produce, possess or use nuclear weapons, that he had no such intention, and it was something that should not be done,” Abe told reporters, adding the Iranian leader spoke of his belief in peace.
Expectations were low for the visit bringing a major breakthrough in the tensions between the two nations that threaten to spill into armed conflict. But with strong personal ties to Trump and Japan having maintained good relations with Iran for decades, Abe was seen as being able to open a line of communication between Washington and Tehran that could ease some friction.
A missile attack on a Saudi Arabian airport by Tehran-backed Yemeni rebels ratcheted up tensions in the Gulf while Abe’s efforts were underway. The region has been churning since Washington piled more sanctions on Iran in May and unleashed a show of military force, sending an aircraft carrier to the region. Those moves drew a threat from Iran to retreat from the nuclear deal.
While Abe was in Iran, Japan received a reminder of the dangers in the region. Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko said the ministry held an emergency meeting Thursday over a tanker attack in Sea of Oman, according to a tweet from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The attack involved two ships that carried Japan-related goods, it said.
--With assistance from Takashi Hirokawa and Karen Leigh.
To contact the reporter on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Steve Geimann
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