Pompeo: Iranian regime hasn’t accepted my offer to come to Tehran

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would “happily” go to Tehran to address tensions between the two countries over US sanctions on the nation, an offer that he says was not accepted by the Iranian regime.

“I recently offered to travel to Tehran and speak directly to the Iranian people. The regime hasn’t accepted my offer,” Pompeo said in a tweet on Monday.

“We aren’t afraid of [Mohammad Javad Zarif] coming to America where he enjoys the right to speak freely. Are the facts of the Khamenei regime so bad he cannot let me do the same thing in Tehran? What if his people heard the truth, unfiltered, unabridged?” the secretary of state added.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to the US for a UN meeting.

Zarif and the Iranian delegation arrived in New York to attend a UN Economic and Social Council ministerial meeting.

Pompeo explained in an interview with Bloomberg he would willingly appear on Iranian television to explain US reasoning behind the sanctions.

“I would welcome the chance to speak directly to the Iranian people... about what it is their leadership has done and how it has harmed Iran,” he said.

- With agencies.