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G7 SUMMIT: Trump refuses meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Zaif

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G7 SUMMIT: Trump refuses meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Zaif

The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has refused to meet with Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Javad Zaif over talks to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump said it was “too soon” for him to meet with Zarif, who made a surprise visit to the G7 meeting in France following an invitation by French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I knew he was coming,” Trump said of the visit. “I knew everything he [Macron] was doing and I approved everything he was doing,” Trump said, adding the French president “asked for my approval”.

Trump did say, however, that he did not think the time was right yet for him to sit with Zarif.

READ ALSO: G7 SUMMIT: Trump, Western allies at rift over trade war with China, Iran, N’Korea & Russia

“It’s too soon to meet, I didn’t want to,” Trump said, adding that he wants to see a “strong Iran” and that he was not looking for regime change in the country.

Macron has been trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal between the United States, Europe, Iran and Russia after Trump pulled out of the deal last year.

The G7 Summit is taking place against a backdrop of worries about a global economic downturn and coincides with an era of international disunity across an array of matters.

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