Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Zarif reportedly received an invitation to meet US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last month amid escalating tensions between western powers and the Shiite Republic.
According to The New Yorker, the invitation was delivered by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) during a meeting with Zarif in New York on July 15.
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Trump reportedly signed off on the diplomatic overture on July 14 while playing golf with the senator, who worked with the State Department and the White House for weeks trying to arrange a meeting between the two.
Zarif, who was in Manhattan for a series of meetings at the United Nations, reportedly told Paul he could not unilaterally accept the White House invitation without first consulting with Tehran.
Zarif later told the magazine he was not interested in attending a White House meeting that yielded nothing more than a photo op and a statement, The New Yorker said.
Trump has publicly reiterated his willingness to hold talks with the Iranians even as he lambastes Tehran as a corrupt, incompetent and dangerous regime that threatens regional security and US interests.
Trump pulled the US out of an international accord designed to curb Iran's nuclear program last year, and has since reimposed sanctions on Iran, even slapping them on Zarif personally last week, in an effort to force it to renegotiate the agreement.
Tensions soared in the Persian Gulf in June and July amid a series of attacks on oil tankers and Iran's downing of an unmanned US surveillance drone .
Trump has said the attack on the US drone prompted him to order a military strike in response, only to call it off at the last minute.
A White House spokesperson declined to provide comment on the invitation to The New Yorker.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
