US and Iran hold talks on sidelines of UN General Assembly

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What did President Trump say about the US‑Iran meeting at the UN General Assembly?

Tom Bateman 0:00
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Professor Devi Sridhar 0:03
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Carine Torbey 0:35
This is the Global News
Alex Ritson 0:59
Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 23rd of September, these are our main stories. Donald Trump hails what he calls a productive meeting with Iranian officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Meanwhile, the US introduces global sanctions that could ground most Iranian aircraft. An organised crime group shuts down parts of Colombia's Caribbean coast, prompting the president to send in the army. Also in this podcast, how an entrepreneur in Ghana turns waste plastic packaging into school desks.
Matt McGrath 1:42
And... The longer this book is on sale, the more egregious the damage from the defamation becomes.
Alex Ritson 1:49
A call for Earl Spencer's book about Princess Diana to be pulped because of a factual error. The war in Iran was always going to dominate this year's United Nations General Assembly. The annual gathering of leaders and officials from around the world is an opportunity for diplomacy, and on Tuesday there were direct talks between the US and Iran for the first time in months. But it's also an occasion for fiery speeches and rhetoric, and when President Trump addressed the Assembly, he included a threat of extreme action against Iran.
Donald Trump 2:27
I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope? of future greatness or generations, but I believe we'll make a deal right after the election.
Alex Ritson 3:07
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, Mr Trump's chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, spent three hours in talks with Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Mr Trump said afterwards the talks had been productive, while Iranian state media said the main reason for the discussions had been to convey Tehran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. I asked our State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman, what else had come out of that meeting.
Tom Bateman 3:35
It was a three-hour meeting, so clearly it covered a lot of ground. I think it is almost certain that the fate of the Strait of Hormuz was a key part of that. Now, there is a sense from at least one Iranian official of a preparedness to lower the demands on the Iranian side with the Americans. Now, that may be a result of the punishing economic blockade that the Americans have in place today. which is continuing to put this massive pressure on the regime. This Iranian official is saying basically that they would be prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the Americans remove their naval blockade of Iranian ports, plus some other measures. But these are not the same extensive list of demands that the Iranians had
Tom Bateman 4:19
So there is a feeling of the potential for progress, although Donald Trump seems to be sort of foreclosing the idea there won't be a deal before the midterm elections in the US, which aren't until early November. Having said that, I was standing outside the UN building here when Steve Witkoff walked out. with his sunglasses on, my colleague Ned Torfik shouted to him to ask how the meeting with the Iranians had gone. He gave us a big thumbs up. And he has certainly been briefing out that in his view the meeting went very well. He does tend to put a positive spin on things, even if that isn't absolutely the case. This meeting is significant because there hasn't been a meeting at that level between the Iranians and the Americans since about June.
Tom Bateman 5:01
And that was when the vice president, J.D. Vance, was meeting the Iranians in Pakistan.

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