President Donald Trump said the United States is not negotiating with Iran as Washington focuses on economic sanctions against Tehran, vowing to sanction countries that do business with the Islamic Republic, Reuters reports.
"We don't want to talk to them. We're not looking for meetings or anything like that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said the U.S. economic campaign would continue until Iran actually decided to negotiate.
"We now have Operation Economic Exile to destroy their economy," Leavitt said. "There are no negotiations right now, and that will continue until the president feels that maybe they can come to the negotiating table in a meaningful way." He, of course, continues to keep all options on the table.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant warned countries on Monday to cut off financial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions as part of what was billed as an “economic D-Day,” but the Treasury Department failed to actually impose sanctions.
When asked whether he would punish Russia for doing business with Iran, Trump said: “It depends. So far, I think Russia has been pretty good as far as the Strait of Hormuz goes, and you have to understand: everything they do, we do too. You know, somebody was talking about China. What about China? We hear they spy. We spy on them too.”
Then, when asked if he would sanction Chinese banks for doing business with Iran, Trump said: “Who said I don’t? You don’t know if I do. I don't have to announce everything, do I?"
As a reminder, the prime minister of Qatar visited Tehran on Thursday in an attempt to resume diplomacy.
The United States and Iran have traded accusations over Washington's promise to increase economic pressure, a move that one Iranian official described as "all-out economic warfare."