UPDATE-Iran says 'no plans' for Rouhani-Trump meet on UN sidelines

This combination of file pictures created on July 23, 2018

shows US President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting on July 18, 2018, at the White House in Washington, DC, and a file handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on May 2, 2018 on showing President Hassan Rouhani giving a speech on Iranian TV in Tehran. – The White House said on September 15, 2019 President Donald Trump may still meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, despite the US accusing Iran of masterminding drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did not rule out the possibility in a television interview broadcast as Saudi Arabia raced to restart operations at oil plants hit by drone attacks that slashed its production. (Photos by Nicholas Kamm and HO / various sources / AFP) /

Iran has not made any plans for President Hassan Rouhani to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly, a spokesman said Monday.

“We have neither planned for this meeting nor do I think such a thing would happen in New York,” the foreign ministry’s Abbas Mousavi said in remarks aired on state television.

The White House said on Sunday that Trump may still meet Rouhani at the UN meeting in New York next week, despite accusations from Washington that Tehran was behind weekend drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.

“As we have stated before if the Americans return to the JCPOA and cease their economic terrorism, they can return to the joint commission and talk,” Mousavi added.

He was referring to a commission within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a 2015 agreement that gave Iran the promise of relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Tensions between the two countries have soared since Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the JCPOA in May last year and began reimposing crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic.

European powers have been trying to salvage the nuclear accord and de-escalate the situation.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been leading the efforts, and proposed a meeting between Rouhani and Trump to defuse the crisis.