TEHRAN – U.S. President Donald Trump has explicitly stated that his administration is not seeking a regime change in Iran and does not want to see any terrible thing happen in the region.

During at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Monday, Trump said that his main goal is to ensure that Tehran will not be developing what he called nuclear weapons, Al Jazeera reported.

That is while Iran has repeatedly said that Tehran is not seeking to produce nuclear weapons and that its nuclear activities are being closely watched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Moreover, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stressed that production, stockpiling and use of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons is forbidden and the Islamic Republic considers the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons as a grave sin.

During his presser with Abe, the U.S. president went on to say that Iran “has a chance to be a great country with the same leadership.”

“We are not looking for regime change” in Iran, Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying.

Trump also told reporters that he and the Japanese leader had talked about Iran, noting, “Nobody wants to see terrible things happen, especially me.”

“I do believe Iran would like to talk and if they’d like to talk, we’ll talk also,” Trump stated, adding that Abe has a “very good relationship with Iran.”

For his part, Abe said Japan “would like to do whatever it can. Japan and the U.S. should collaborate closely so that tensions surrounding Iran are lessened and do not result in armed conflict”.

Having hosted Trump, Japan’s Abe is considering a visit to Iran next month, Japanese media recently reported. The reports said that Abe’s visit would be likely in mid-June. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Tokyo earlier this month.

SP/PA