President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional post-election meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said on Saturday.

Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing President and the incoming President, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power under America’s democracy.

But Trump, a Republican, did not host Biden, a Democrat, for a sit-down after the 2020 election, when Trump lost his re-election bid.

Trump sought the presidency four years later, and this week he defeated Vice-President Kamala Harris, a Democrat. Trump is the first former President to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election.

The White House said Biden called Trump this past on Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office.

In a speech on Thursday, Biden said he had assured Trump “that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve.”

Their upcoming meeting is set for 11 am.

Iran plot denial

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi denied US charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Trump and called on Saturday for confidence-building between the two hostile countries.

“Now ... a new scenario is fabricated ... as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy,” Araqchi said in a post on X.

He was referring to the alleged plot which Washington said was ordered by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards to assassinate Trump, who won Tuesday’s presidential election and takes office in January. “The American people have made their decision. And Iran respects their right to elect the President of their choice. The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect,” Araqchi said.

“Iran is NOT after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations. Confidence-building is needed from both sides. It is not a one-way street,” he added.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that the claim was a “repulsive” plot by Israel and the Iranian opposition outside the country to “complicate matters between America and Iran”.

Iranian analysts and insiders have not dismissed the possibility of a detente between Tehran and Washington under Trump, although without restoring diplomatic ties.

“Iran will act based on its own interests. It is possible that secret talks between Tehran and Washington take place.”