Former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claims in a new book that he nearly met then-US President Donald Trump in October of 2019, but the meeting was scrapped because of the White House's refusal to hold off on publicizing the event until after it took place.
Excerpts of the new book, titled “Without Smoke, Fire, And Blood”, were released ahead of its publication in Iran and quoted on Tuesday by RadioFreeEurope.
Rouhani writes in the book that he was ready to go against the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and meet with the US leader in New York during a United Nations General Assembly in hopes the talks could lead to the easing of some US sanctions against Tehran.
At the time, France and Britain were lobbying for the Trump meeting to try and ease the situation. Other countries, including Germany, Japan, and Pakistan, are also said to have requested a meeting between Trump and Rouhani.
"It was clear to me that Trump is an actor," the former Iranian President wrote, according to RadioFreeEurope. "He was not a normal person. Every moment he was playing a role, and he did it capably. My concern was that if they announced the news [beforehand] the game would be ruined. We said: first the meeting, then the news."
"In the end, we concluded that it was impossible to have a frank and honest conversation with Trump as equals," Rouhani says in the book.
"We had to trust the American president, which was a very difficult thing to do. Perhaps if the Americans had a different president, this could have been done and over with," he adds.
In October of 2019, The New Yorker reported that French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to set up a three-way phone call with Trump and Rouhani.
According to the report, Trump waited for the call after a secret telephone line was set up for the Iranian leader at the Millennium Hilton Hotel.
Macron picked up the phone, but Rouhani refused to come out to speak after failing to secure a promise from Trump to lift all sanctions on Iran before they spoke.
An earlier report said that Trump and Rouhani had agreed on a four-point plan presented by Marcon, but Rouhani backed off when sanctions against Iran were not lifted as a pre-condition.