WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States is not talking with Iran as Washington focuses on punishing Tehran economically, vowing to penalize countries that do business with the Islamic Republic.
"We don't want to speak to them. We're not looking to meet or anything," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. economic campaign would continue until Iran decides to negotiate meaningfully.
"Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy," Leavitt told the "Fox & Friends" program. "No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way ... He of course continues to retain all options on the table."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries on Monday to cut their financial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions as part of what had been billed as "Economic D-Day," but the Treasury Department stopped short of actually imposing penalties.
When asked on Thursday if he would punish Russia for continuing to do business with Iran, Trump responded: "It depends. So far, I think Russia's behaved quite well, having to do with the Strait of Hormuz, and you have to understand: for everything they do, we do also. You know, somebody was saying about China. What about China? We hear they're spying. We spy on them too."
Then when asked if he would sanction Chinese banks for doing business with Iran, Trump said: "Who said I'm not? You don't know if I'm doing it ... I don't have to announce everything, do I?"
Qatar's prime minister visited Tehran on Thursday in a bid to relaunch diplomacy after the U.S. and Iran traded recriminations over Washington's promise to increase economic pressure, a move one Iranian official described as "all-out economic war."
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Ryan Patrick Jones and Katharine Jackson; editing by Michelle Nichols)
