US Secretary of State will not meet with his Iranian counterpart
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not meet with his Iranian counterpart during a meeting of southeast Asian nations in Singapore this weekend, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, a day after US President Donald Trump offered talks with Tehran without preconditions.
"Iran is not a member of any of the multilateral gatherings so there are no plans for any engagement with Iran," the senior official told reporters.
"Related issues, of course - terrorism and proliferation, will be discussed at several of these meetings," the official added, referring to US charges that Tehran supports extremist groups in the Middle East.
Both Pompeo and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will attend Saturday's meeting of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc (ASEAN).
Trump said on Monday he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss ways to improve ties, months after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May.
