Pompeo: US Prepared to Talk to Iran ‘With No Preconditions’

The United States is “prepared to engage in a conversation [with Iran] with no preconditions,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Sunday at a joint news conference in southern Switzerland with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis. However, Pompeo added that “the American effort to fundamentally reverse the malign activity of this Islamic Republic” would continue. On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reportedly said Iran would be willing to hold talks if the US showed it respect, a change from comments made earlier in the week that his country would only reengage if the White House dropped economic sanctions. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have flared since last year, when the Trump Administration withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at blocking Iran’s nuclear development, and reimposed economic sanctions. US government officials and their counterparts in allied Gulf countries believe that damage to four vessels earlier this month off the coast of the United Arab Emirates was orchestrated by Iran. Moreover, the Iran-backed, Yemen-based Houthi movement claimed responsibility for recent drone strikes against Saudi Arabia.