WarSclerotic

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday said the United States sends Iran requests “every day” to hold negotiations.

Following his decision to withdraw from the deal meant to limit Iran’s nuclear program and reimpose sanctions, US President Donald Trump in July offered to hold unconditional talks with Tehran, an offer rejected by Iranian leaders.

“From one side they try to pressure the people of Iran, on another side they send us messages every day through various methods that we should come and negotiate together,” Rouhani said in a speech shown on state television, according to Reuters.

The US says “we should negotiate here, we should negotiate there,” Rouhani added. “We want to resolve the issues… should we see your message… or should we see your brutish actions?”

Echoing comments made Thursday by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rouhani also said Iran is in an “economic, psychological and propaganda war” against the US and Israel.

Trump in May announced the US would leave the 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers, charging it did not do enough to curb Iran’s nuclear development. He also assailed the accord for not addressing Iranian support for armed groups in the region or the country’s ballistic missile program.

US President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on September 7, 2018. (AFP/Nicholas Kamm)

Despite his frequently hawkish rhetoric toward Iran, Trump has kept open the possibility of talks and on Wednesday said it was possible he could meet Rouhani at the UN General Assembly later this month.

“We’ll see what happens with Iran. Whether they want to talk or not, that’s up to them, not up to me,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“Iran is a much different place than when I took over the presidency,” he added, describing the country as “in turmoil.”

“When I took office it was just a question of how long until they took over the entire Middle East. Now they are just worrying about their own survival as a country.”

Trump is due to lead a September 26 meeting of heads of state of the UN Security Council, with the goal of ramping up pressure on Tehran over its alleged violations of council resolutions.

With the United States now holding the presidency of the Security Council, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday said the aim was to put further pressure on Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York, April 24, 2018. (AP/Richard Drew)

But Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Wednesday hit out at the US plan.

“There’s only one UNSC resolution on Iran… @realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Washington has sought to build up international pressure on Iran after reimposing tough, unilateral sanctions on August 7 and setting a November 5 deadline for halting Iran’s oil exports.

Iran’s economy has been battered as countries wrap up trade ties in fear of violating the US sanctions, which Washington said would be strictly imposed.

TEHRAN — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday openly disagreed about a “ceasefire” in Syria’s Idlib province, highlighting their differences despite a close cooperation.

The rare scenes captured on camera came as Putin, Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Tehran for a three-way summit to discuss the fate of the country’s last major rebel bastion of Idlib.

Russia and Iran are key allies of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Turkey however backs opposition fighters seeking the ouster of the Syrian leader, and has argued against a large-scale offensive against the rebels fearing it could trigger a mass exodus towards its borders.

An unusual public exchange of words between Erdogan and Putin during the summit in the Iranian capital was carried live, as the Turkish leader pushed for a mention of a ceasefire in a joint statement.

“In the third point of the joint statement it’s clearly stated – we have considered the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone and have decided to seek a path to regulate the situation there,” Putin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (C) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) attend a press conference after meeting in Tehran on September 7, 2018.(AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV)

Idlib is one of the so-called “de-escalation” zones set up as a result of talks by Russia, Turkey and Iran last year as Damascus regained control of more of the country.

But Erdogan retorted: “Yes, the third point is wonderful, we take the diplomatic point. But there is no mention of ‘truce’. It would be good if we could have this phrase. It would strengthen the point… it would strengthen and calm this process.”

To which Putin replied: “The fact is there are no representatives of the armed opposition at our table,” citing the al-Nusra front and the so-called Islamic State extremist group. He also noted that the Syrian army was absent from the talks.

Idlib is dominated by jihadists of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, but in the past years has taken in tens of thousands of rebels and civilians evacuated from other areas recaptured by the regime.

Syrian rebel fighters from the Quneitra province walk with their rifles as they wait at the Morek crossing point to be transfered in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo on July 21, 2018. (AFP Photo/Aaref Watad)

“I believe the Turkish president is right overall. It would be good. But we cannot say for them — any more than we can say for the al-Nusra front or IS — that they will stop shooting or stop using armed drones,” Putin noted.

But as Russian airplanes pounded rebel positions in the Syrian province, Erdogan insisted: “If we can ensure a ceasefire here, this will be one of the most important steps of the summit, it will seriously put civilians at ease.”

“Any attack launched or to be launched on Idlib will result in a disaster, massacre and a very big humanitarian tragedy.”

He said it must be possible to find a reasonable way to ensure everyone’s concerns are dealt with.

“We can try to pull the elements which Russia finds disturbing to areas where they will be unable to attack the Aleppo and the Hmeimim regions,” he suggested.

Hmeimim is home to Russia’s main military base in northwestern province of Latakia.

On Friday morning, Russian air raids pounded rebel positions in the southwest of Idlib killing five people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Among them were positions of the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, as well as of the hardline Ahrar al-Sham group, the Britain-based monitor said.

Hundreds of civilians have already begun to flee Idlib ahead of what could be the last — and bloodiest — major battle of the devastating conflict.

The United States’ top military official said Saturday that he and President Donald Trump have “routine dialogue” about possible military consequences if the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons during its upcoming assault on Idlib.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told reporters in New Delhi that no final decision had been made as yet, Reuters reported.

“But we are in a dialogue, a routine dialogue, with the president to make sure he knows where we are with regard to planning in the event that chemical weapons are used,” said Dunford.

Reuters reports he later added: “He expects us to have military options and we have provided updates to him on the development of those military options.”

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis (2nd right) speaks as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford (to his left) listens during a bilateral meeting with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, April 26, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

The United States warned Syria Tuesday it will respond “swiftly and appropriately” if it uses chemical weapons against its people.

“Let us be clear, it remains our firm stance that if President Bashar Assad chooses to again use chemical weapons, the United States and its allies will respond swiftly and appropriately,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

The White House was “closely monitoring the situation in Idlib province, Syria, where millions of innocent civilians are under threat of an imminent Assad regime attack, backed by Russia and Iran,” Sanders said.

“President Donald J. Trump has warned that such an attack would be a reckless escalation of an already tragic conflict and would risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” she added.

Earlier Tuesday, the Kremlin criticized Trump for warning against an expected Syrian government offensive on the opposition’s last stronghold.

Syrian protesters wave the flag of the opposition as they demonstrate against the regime and its ally Russia, in the rebel-held city of Idlib on September 7, 2018 (AFP/Omar Haj Kadour)

Trump on Monday sent a tweet warning the Syrian government and its allies against a “reckless attack” on the rebel-held Idlib province.

Russia says jihadists in Idlib target its own facilities in Syria and pose a terrorist threat.

Some three million people live in the northwest region, which came under renewed air strikes and bombings earlier this week.

The United Nations has said the assault poses the threat of a humanitarian disaster. The Syrian peace envoy Staffan de Mistura on Friday proposed a plan for al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Idlib to pull back from civilian areas to avert a bloodbath in the rebel-held province.