Donald Trump on July 30 offered to meet Iran's leaders with no preconditions, although US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wasted no time in adding caveats.

"If they want to meet, we'll meet," the US president said at a news conference at the White House with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, adding that the meeting could take place at any time requested by Tehran.

"I'd meet with anybody. I believe in meetings," Trump also said, adding: "Speaking to other people, especially when you're talking about potentials of war, and death, and famine, and lots of other things—you meet. There's nothing wrong with meeting."

However, despite Trump’s claim that he would demand no preconditions in advance of a meeting, Pompeo soon turned up on CNBC contradicting that point, saying: “If the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their own people, reduce their malign behaviour, can agree that it’s worthwhile to enter in a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the president said he’s prepared to sit down and have a conversation with him [Iranian President Hassan Rouhani].”

Hamid Aboutalebi, an advisor to Rouhani, responded to Trump’s words by saying that “respect for the great nation of Iran”, a return by the US to the nuclear deal and a reduction in hostilities were needed prior to any possible meeting.

July 30 also saw the Iranian rial (IRR) hit another all-time low against the dollar, weakening to 120,000 to the USD on the black market from the previous day’s 112,000 and the 98,000 seen on the day before that—the severe decline, described by some analysts as a “death spiral”, has accelerated as the prospect of heavy sanctions from the Trump administration hitting the Islamic Republic nears.

A first phase of sanctions is set to take effect on August 6 and a second phase, which will include an attempted ban on Iranian oil exports, will kick in on November 4.

The IRR had trimmed losses to stand at 114,000 as of around 12:30 local time on July 31.

Adding to the jitters in Iran are claims from respected economists that although the government says the country’s inflation rate stands at around 9%, in reality, when factors such as the black market rial-to-the-dollar exchange rate are taken into account, it is now at more than 200%.

Relations between the US and Iran have steadily worsened since early May, when Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and opted for a campaign of sanctions and other measures designed to force Iran to the table to renegotiate its role in the Middle East.

No love lost
Whether Rouhani would take up a chance to meet with Trump is far from clear. There is no love lost between the two presidents.

Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi has previously said that Trump asked eight times for a meeting with Rouhani when both were last September attending the UN General Assembly in New York, but was rejected each time.

Trump made a bellicose address to delegates at the Assembly, saying: “The Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy. It has turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos.”

The next day, in his speech to the assembled delegates, Rouhani questioned Trump’s credibility and dignity, describing the US president as “a rogue newcomer to international politics” and deploring Trump’s speech as "ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric" which was "unfit to be heard at the United Nations". In a tweeted response to Trump shortly after his address, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif referred to “hate speech” that should be seen as “medieval”.

Relations between Iran and the US soured further last week when on July 22, Trump tweeted: “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!”

The tweet appeared to be in response to a warning from President Hassan Rouhani in which he stated that “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars” and said: “Mr Trump, don’t play with the lion’s tail, this would only lead to regret.”

Squared up
On July 26, senior Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani squared up to the US president, mocking the threats he had made to Iran on Twitter, likening him to a gambler and nightclub owner, deriding the performance of US armed forces in Afghanistan and warning that the Red Sea region was no longer secure for the American military.

Major General Suleimani—who is in charge of the Quds force, the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that takes on operations outside of Iran and clandestine assignments—said during a speech in Iran’s western city of Hamedan that Trump should know that the Islamic Republic would be the one to “end” any war between their two countries.

“I’m telling you, Mr Trump the gambler, I am telling you: know that where you are not thinking of, we are near you. Places you cannot imagine, we are next to you,” said Suleimani, according to a Tasnim news agency report.

He added: “We, the Iranian nation, have gone through tough events. You may begin a war, but it is us who will end it. Go ask your predecessors about it. So stop threatening us. We are ready to stand up against you. The Red Sea which was secure is no longer secure for the presence of American [military]... The Quds force and I are your match. We don’t go to sleep at night before thinking about you.”