The United States is seeking to negotiate a treaty with Iran to include Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its regional behavior, the US special envoy for Iran said on Wednesday ahead of UN meetings in New York next week.
Envoy Brian Hook told an audience at the Hudson Institute think tank that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "have all made clear that we are ready to negotiate and to have those discussions.”
According to AFP, Hook stressed the goal was a "comprehensive deal" with Iran, based on a tough set of conditions Pompeo laid out in May.
The United States seeks a treaty ratified by Congress to replace the nuclear pact Trump withdrew from in May.
Washington insists such a deal should address Iran's ballistic weapons capabilities, its nuclear capacity and its "destabilizing" and "malign" regional influence.
"There hasn't been any aversion to meeting with the Iranians," said Hook.
According to Hook, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif "have all indicated that they're not interested in talking. That's their position, we respect that."
Reuters quoted Hook as saying that the administration was expanding its diplomatic efforts to ensure that purchases of Iranian oil are drastically reduced by Nov. 4 when Washington reimposes oil sanctions against Tehran.
The US re-imposed sweeping sanctions against Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions is set to go into effect November 5 targeting Iran's vital oil sector.
.png?w=600)
