10 things you need to know today: July 31, 2018

Trump says he'll meet with Iran leaders "whenever they want," U.S. spy agencies say North Korea is building more missiles, and more

President Trump at the White House
(Image credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Trump says he will meet with Iran leaders 'whenever they want'

President Trump said Monday that he would "certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet." Trump, speaking during a joint press conference at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said he believes Iran "will probably end up wanting to meet. I'm ready to meet whenever they want to. No preconditions. They want to meet, I'll meet, whenever they want." Just last week, Trump responded to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's statement that the U.S. "must understand that war with Iran is the mother of all wars," tweeting that if Rouhani threatens the U.S. again, "YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE." Iran rejected the idea of a meeting with Trump until he shows "respect" for Tehran.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.