SHAFAQNA- In New York, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran refused to engage in a phone conversation with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, which had been secretly arranged by French President Emmanuel Macron, leaving Trump waiting on the line.
The New Yorker magazine reported on Monday that Macron had tried to engineer a three-way conversation by having technicians set up a secure line in a meeting room on Rouhani’s floor at the Millennium Hilton Hotel across the road from the UN General Assembly (UNGA), on September 24 evening , press tv reported.
Sources familiar with last Tuesday’s events said, “The call to Trump’s line came through at 9:30. Macron took the call. But Rouhani never emerged from his room.”
The story was first published in the New Yorker on Monday, and then the New York Times. It was confirmed to the Guardian by sources familiar with Tuesday’s events, who stressed that at no point did Rouhani show interest in such a conversation with Macron and Trump.
It was a mission lifted out of a Hollywood thriller. Mr. Macron has sought for months to broker a thaw in the standoff between the United States and Iran, nytimes told.
The French leader has also been leading European efforts to save the accord, whose fate remains in doubt since Washington’s exit.
Iran has repeatedly rejected Trump’s offer of talks, saying it would not engage in such negotiations unless the US returns to the deal and lifts its unilateral sanctions.