Barely a week after warning Iran it would suffer untold “consequences,” Trump said he would meet the country’s leader Hassan Rouhani “any time” and without preconditions.

“I would meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” Trump said at a joint White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, “I don’t know if they are ready yet.”

“No preconditions,” he added.

“They want to meet, I’ll meet. Any time they want. Good for the country. Good for them. Good for us. And good for the world.”

White House and administration officials rushed to place caveats on the president’s seemingly open invitation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered his own interpretation of the “no preconditions” offer, setting out three steps Iran must take before talks take place.

“The president wants to meet with folks to solve problems if the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to making fundamental changes in how they treat their own people, reduce their maligned behavior, can agree that it’s worthwhile to enter into a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation,” he said.

“Then the president said he’s prepared to sit down and have a conversation with him.”

National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said Trump was open to dialogue and even ending four decades of bitter animosity between the two countries, but only if Iran fundamentally changes.

“The United States is prepared to take actions to end sanctions, reestablish full diplomatic and commercial relations, permit Iran to have advanced technology and support the reintegration of the Iranian economy into the international economic system,” Marquis said.

“However, this relief is only possible if there are tangible, demonstrated and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies. Until then, the sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course.”

Trump’s offer comes after a provocative warning a week ago from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who said the US should not “play with the lion’s tail” and warned that any conflict with Iran would be the “mother of all wars.”

Trump responded with an all-caps tirade on Twitter: “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”

“WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” he added.

The US is regularly suspected of backing the idea of regime change, but analysts read the tweets as simply a way for Trump to pivot after a week of dire headlines over his much-maligned summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

In May, Trump — who has made Iran his public enemy number one — announced the US withdrawal from what he called a “defective” multinational nuclear deal with Tehran, and moved to reinstate punishing sanctions.

The 2015 agreement came in response to fears that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb. Washington’s European allies maintain their support for the deal and have vowed to stay in it, though their businesses fear US penalties.

“I ended the Iran deal. It was a ridiculous deal,” Trump said.

“If we could work something out that’s meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, I would certainly be willing to meet.”

Trump said he and Conte had agreed that the “brutal regime in Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon. Never.”

“We encourage all nations to pressure Iran to end the full range of its malign activities,” the US leader added.

‘I believe in meeting’

Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to cast traditional diplomatic protocol aside and meet with leaders shunned by other administrations, including North Korean’s Kim Jong Un.

“I believe in meeting,” Trump said.

“Speaking to other people, especially when you are talking about potentials of war and death, and famine and lots of other things, you meet.”

On July 23, Pompeo said Washington was not afraid to sanction top-ranking leaders of the “nightmare” Iranian regime.

Pompeo also said that Washington wants all countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil “as close to zero as possible” by November 4, or face American sanctions.

“There’s more to come,” Pompeo said of US financial penalties.

Members of Asean have been at loggerheads with China over the territorial rights in the South China Sea. Tensions and clashes have occurred in recent years after China began militarisation of the sea, notably in the Spratly Islands.

Some ministers – at their recent annual meeting in Singapore – raised concerns about the issue, notably the militarisation, Thailand’s Asean Affairs Departments director-general Suriya Chindawongse said.

The Philippines and Vietnam are at the forefront of the conflict and have occasionally faced up to their giant neighbour. In 2013 the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled in favour of the Philippines, rejecting China’s claim of historical rights over the territories in the sea. Beijing dismissed the ruling, but showed an intention to solve the issue with Manila on a bilateral basis.

Asean and China signed a non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002 but the document failed to prevent conflict and tension. Both sides are in the process of drawing up a code of conduct (COC) as a legally binding instrument to control the behaviour of countries in the contentious sea.

No tangible results

While Beijing wants to see the effective and full implementation of the DOC, significant progress to establish negotiation ground-rules for the COC has been made in recent years.

“For the first time both sides have agreed to have a single negotiation text,” Suriya said, noting that previously every stakeholder had their own text for negotiation.

He said that the process would take time to reach a conclusion and the COC is not an instrument to settle the territorial dispute. That issue would be settled on a bilateral basis.

Since the COC has not yet materialised, China and Asean countries will continue to fully and effectively implement the DOC and endeavour to reach a COC at an early date, said China’s Ambassador to Asean, Huang Xilian.

“We also hope that countries outside the region could play a constructive role in this process and contribute to peace and stability in the region,” Huang said in an interview with The Nation.

The Chinese diplomat appeared to be referring to the United States, which closely monitors militarisation in the area and has called for continued freedom of navigation.

Implementing the DOC while negotiating the COC is an effective platform to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea through enhanced dialogue and cooperation, Huang said.

“It is a testament that China and Asean have the wisdom and ability to draft rules and properly manage the disputes for the sake of peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Huang said.

With such spirit, maritime cooperation in the region is possible and could yield a good result, he said. To prevent incidents and manage the situation, China and Asean issued the Joint Statement on the Application of the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea and launched a hotline for senior officials of both sides to respond to maritime emergencies.

To strengthen maritime rescues, China and Asean have begun building a hotline platform for maritime search and rescue and plan to hold the first ever large-scale joint exercise on maritime search and rescue, he said.

“These measures have played important roles in maintaining safety and stability in the sea, and formed a sound interaction … as the two simultaneously rotating wheels,” Huang said.

China plans to conduct more maritime cooperation programs with Asean. They include the first China-Asean joint maritime drill, the China-Asean marine information technology cooperative research project, a workshop on cooperation on coastal ecosystem health assessment and conservation strategy in the South China Sea, a workshop on ocean acidification training, training on satellite remote sensing of the marine ecological environment, and a workshop on safety of navigation and communication on the South China Sea, he said.

Songphol Sukchan was speaking on Lombok island while waiting for the Thais to descend from Mount Rinjano, an active volcano.

A 6.4-magnitude quake hit the island on Sunday, killing at least 14, including a Malaysian.

Indonesia has mounted urgent operations to rescue more some 500 hikers, mostly from Thailand.

Other hikers were from the United States, France, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as many other countries, according to search and rescue officials.

Helicopters and search teams have been deployed to scour the slopes of Mount Rinjani, which is criss-crossed with hiking routes popular with tourists, while rescuers have made airdrops of food supplies to those stranded.

Thai Foreign Ministry earlier yesterday reported that at least 174 Thai hikers had already arrived at the foot of the mountain and a hundred others were following.

Data showed that 265 Thais have registered their entry to the Rinjani National Park since July 27.

The island has been a paradise for hikers eager to experience the active volcano and its crater. as well as other tourist attractions on the Indonesian island.

Rising some 3,726 metres above sea level, Rinjani is the second-highest volcano in Indonesia and a favourite among sightseers keen to take in its expansive views.

The Thai ambassador and the Thai military attache yesterday arrived at the Sembalun Lawang gathering point in Lombok.

The Thai Embassy provided the rescued with food, drinking water, medicine and accommodation, as well as a power bank.

The incident came to light when Thai hikers used social network platforms including Facebook to alert authorities about their plight. They wrote they could not descend from Rinjani because the quake had caused rockslides and landslides that blocked their paths.

They recorded and posted videos to their Facebook pages, showing rocks falling from the mountain during a series of aftershocks.

They asked the readers of their posts to alert the Thai Embassy in Jakarta to their ordeal.

One of the affected, Thai Nupa Wan, posted a Facebook message seeking help. Nupa wrote that everybody in the group was safe but they could not descend the volcano because their paths were blocked by landslides and rocks from the impact of the earthquake.

“We have set up tents on the hill here to await Indonesian rescue workers. We have enough food and water probably until tomorrow [today] morning. It’s an eight-hour trek back to where we came from,” one group member said.

Several groups of tourists from Thailand arrived in Lombok on Friday to spend the long weekend on the famous trek to the volcanoes and lakes on the Indonesian island.

“The morale remains high. We are mostly young men and women who have joined this trek for the excitement and adventure,” said a group member.

Thai national Thanapon Worawutchainan, who was at the summit when the earthquake struck, posted a video on Facebook showing people stumbling down the slopes in the aftermath.

He said the ground shook violently and people lay down until the tremors stopped.

Another stranded Thai, Funknathee Prapasawat, said on Facebook, “It looked like the mountain in front of me was going to collapse. Some people were injured by rocks falling off the mountain.”

“The lack of genuine electoral competition and the absence of an inclusive political process mean that the July 29 election is not representative of the democratic will of the Cambodian electorate,” a statement from the EU’s foreign affairs office said.

“Therefore its outcome lacks credibility,” the spokesman added.

Some 8.3 million people registered to vote in Cambodia’s sixth general election since polls were held in 1993 after decades of conflict.

But Sunday’s vote lacked any serious contenders after Hun Sen backed a crackdown on the opposition last year.

Given the context, the EU had declined to act as an observer in the  elections and suspended its financial assistance to the Cambodian election authorities.

The EU deplored the “highly restrictive political climate” and implored  Cambodian authorities “to restore democracy, to engage in dialogue with the opposition, and to create conditions conducive to free political debate.”

Meanwhile the ruling party’s spokesman Sok Eysan said his party will win all parliamentary seats after weekend elections.

The Cambodian People’s Party led by premier Hun Sen “will take all seats across the country”, spokesman Sok Eysan said in an interview Monday at party headquarters.//AFP