"On my trip to New York, I was told that I would be sanctioned within two weeks unless I accepted the offer, which I fortunately did not accept,"
By Tyler Durden: We detailed days ago how last month Trump secretly reached out to Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, inviting him for direct talks at the White House via a sit down in New York with Sen. Rand Paul. Zarif has now confirmed that he was sanctioned by the US Treasury last Wednesday specifically as retribution for rebuffing Trump's request. "On my trip to New York, I was told that I would be sanctioned within two weeks unless I accepted the offer, which I fortunately did not accept," he said at a Monday press conference. A journalist for The New Yorker had first revealed late last Friday that during an hour long meeting with Trump's recently tapped intermediary with Iran, Sen. Paul, Zarif expressed that he could not meet with Trump without approval from Tehran.




