Iranian President Hassan Rouhani turned down a request from President Trump’s office to meet while at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York last month.
“A request indeed was made by the U.S. side but it wasn’t accepted by President Rouhani,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said at a press conference on Sunday, according to state-run Fars News Agency.
On Sept. 19, a day before Rouhani declined the invitation, Trump spoke to the general assembly and strongly criticized Iran. He said Iran wanted to appear to be a democracy, but was in fact a “corrupt dictatorship.”
“Above all, Iran’s government must stop supporting terrorists, begin serving its own people and respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors,” Trump said.
Ghassemi also denied a report that French President Emmanuel Macron had planned to mediate a meeting between Trump and Rouhani.
