Iran says Trump’s sanctions closed door on talks

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top diplomat says US President Donald Trump “closed the door to negotiations” with the latest US sanctions, which raised the status of Iran’s central bank to a “global terrorist” institution.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells reporters at the UN: “I know that President Trump did not want to do that,” adding he “must have been misinformed.”

Zarif also says he has no reason to believe Yemen’s Houthi rebels were lying when they claimed responsibility for the recent attack on key Saudi oil facilities, which was blamed by Saudi Arabia, Britain and the US on Iran.

He calls it a “high-precision, low-impact” attack with no casualties, and says: “If Iran was behind this attack, nothing would have been left of this refinery.”

Zarif says President Hassan Rouhani will be proposing a new Hormuz Peace Initiative for the region with two key principles: Non-intervention and non-aggression.

— AP

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