Iran says its president turned down meeting with Trump in September

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said no to a meeting with President Trump last month, when Rouhani was in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly, Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday.

ILNA, Iran's semi-official news agency, reported that Bahram Ghasemi, spokesman for the ministry, said "an intention was expressed by the American side that was not approved by President Rouhani." Diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Iran were cut in 1979, and when former President Barack Obama and Rouhani spoke over the phone in 2013, it was the highest level of contact between Tehran and Washington in several decades.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.