??? Is anything surprising now?

Trump won't meet Rouhani at U.N., calls him 'absolutely lovely man'

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will not meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this week while the two are in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, but he nonetheless said the Iranian leader was probably “an absolutely lovely man.”

“Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an absolutely lovely man!”

Rouhani, in an interview with NBC News that aired Monday, also ruled out a meeting with Trump, saying “the necessary willpower is absent in order to resolve outstanding issues."

Trump has been a tireless critic of Iran since assuming office, making good on a campaign promise to pull the U.S. out of a multilateral nuclear agreement negotiated by the administration of Barack Obama. The Trump administration has also reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran, putting significant strain on its economy.

The president has long lambasted the nuclear deal, intended to block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon in exchange for economic sanction relief, as inadequate, complaining that it did not truly rein in Iran’s nuclear program and did not address other areas of concern, including the Islamic Republic’s support for groups deemed by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations.

Relations with Iran, which had improved slowly under Obama, have chilled since Trump took office. Iranian rhetoric toward the U.S. has sharpened dramatically in recent months, including threats of violence, even as Rouhani’s government has sought to shore up the nuclear agreement with the other countries that are part of it.

Trump has previously expressed a willingness to meet with Rouhani, remarking at a press conference last July that he would be willing to meet with Iranian leaders, without preconditions, "any time they want to.”