We were close to dialogue with US but Trump govt disrupted it: Iran

Iran and the United States were close to establishing dialogue at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, but Washington disrupted the process, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Monday.

According to Rabiei, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during a meeting with European sides to the nuclear deal, clearly said that Tehran is ready for "5 + 1" format talks, which, in addition to Russia, China, France, Germany and the UK, includes the US. However, the condition for this is the lifting of sanctions against Iran.

"However, Trump was not ready to lift sanctions from Iran... First, the United States is not serious enough about the talks. Second, Trump wanted to use sanctions against the people of Iran as a tool during the negotiations," Rabiei told reporters, saying Washington's approach was unacceptable.

"We were close to diplomacy and a final resolution [of the talks' problem], but the US government prevented this from happening. The responsibility for the failure to form the possibility of a dialogue in New York lies directly with the United States," he said.