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Obama announces historic phone call with Iranian president Rouhani Obama holds historic phone call with Rouhani and hints at end to sanctions
(35 minutes later)
Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone on Friday in the first talks between US and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani held the first direct talks between American and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exchanging pleasantries in a 15-minute telephone call on Friday that raised the prospect of relief for Tehran from crippling economic sanctions.
The call, in which Obama communicated his "unique respect for the Iranian people", capped a week of diplomatic breakthroughs. Speaking at the White House shortly after the historic call, Obama said his discussion with Rouhani had shown the "basis for resolution" of the dispute over Iran nuclear programme.
Obama said he saw "a new opportunity to make progress in Tehran". The president said he also said that he saw potential for "progress on Syria". The conversation, in which Obama communicated his "unique respect for the Iranian people", capped a week of diplomatic breakthroughs. Rouhani ended a five-day visit to New York for the UN general assembly with a striking offer to work fast to defuse tensions with America, hailing the US as "a great nation" – a dramatic shift in tone for an Iranian leader.
The call came after the Rouhani ended a five-day visit to New York for the UN general assembly with a striking offer to work fast to defuse tensions with America, hailing the US as "a great nation" – a dramatic shift in tone for an Iranian leader. Both leaders expressed confidence their countries could reach a peaceful settlement to their standoff over Iranian nuclear programme. "While there will be significant obstacles and success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution," Obama said. "I do believe that there is a basis for a resolution."
Both leaders expressed confidence their countries could reach a peaceful settlement to their standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. In a statement at the White House just after the phone conversation, Obama said that despite inevitable obstacles, "I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution". "We're mindful of all the challenges ahead," Obama told reporters. "The test will be meaningful, transparent and verifiable actions which can also bring relief from the comprehensive international sanctions that are currently in place."
Earlier, at a press conference in New York, Rouhani made the most conciliatory remarks heard from Tehran in a decade, and also offered to prepare a concrete plan for resolving the nuclear stalemate with a new round of negotiations in Geneva on 15 October. Minutes earlier, President Rouhani's English-language Twitter account broke news of the phone call in a series of tweets that hinted at a remarkably swift rapprochement between the two countries since the moderate cleric was elected in June.
He said Tehran might go even further, hinting at a possible confidence-building measure to be announced at the talks. One tweet said Rouhani had concluded the phone call by telling Obama to "have a nice day!" and Obama had thanked him and said goodbye in Persian – "Khodahafez", which means "God go with you".
But it was Rouhani's tone that was most remarkable, at the end of a week in which he sought to present Iran as a reborn country, following his election in June. In a phone conversation b/w #Iranian & #US Presidents just now: @HassanRouhani: "Have a Nice Day!" @BarackObama: "Thank you. Khodahafez."
"The environment that has been created is quite different from the past, and those who have brought the change was the people of Iran," he said. The tweets, which are published by Rouhani's aides, suggested the tone of the conversation was friendly, even punctuated by banter. Obama was quoted as saying: "I wish you a safe and pleasant journey and apologize if you're experiencing the [horrendous] traffic in NYC."
"The first step has been taken here which is a beginning for better relations with other countries and in particular, between the two great nations of Iran and US. So the understanding between our peoples will grow and our governments will first stop the escalation of tensions, and then defuse those tensions." Earlier, at a press conference in New York, Rouhani made the most conciliatory remarks heard from Tehran in a decade and also offered to prepare a concrete plan for resolving the nuclear stalemate to a new round of negotiations in Geneva on 15 October.
He said Tehran might go even further, hinting at a possible confidence-building measure to be announced at the talks. But it was Rouhani's tone that was most remarkable, at the end of a week in which he sought to present Iran as a reborn country, following his June election.
"The environment that has been created is quite different from the past, and those who have brought the change was the people of Iran," he said. "The first step has been taken here which is a beginning for better relations with other countries and in particular, between the two great nations of Iran and US.
"So the understanding between our peoples will grow and our governments will first stop the escalation of tensions, and then defuse those tensions."
The conciliatory language marked a radical change from the presidency of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a break from tradition dating to the 1979 revolution of referring to the US as the "Great Satan". It mirrored a change on the streets of Tehran, where the ritual chanting of "Death to America" has almost died out at public gatherings since the elections.The conciliatory language marked a radical change from the presidency of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a break from tradition dating to the 1979 revolution of referring to the US as the "Great Satan". It mirrored a change on the streets of Tehran, where the ritual chanting of "Death to America" has almost died out at public gatherings since the elections.
Rouhani said that he was confident the decade-long impasse over Iran's nuclear programmes would soon be over, and he pointed to the friendly atmosphere at a meeting on Thursday evening between the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his counterparts from the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China. The meeting was chaired by the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. "Step by step, we will build confidence between our presidents and our countries," Rouhani said " With sufficient will on both sides – and I assure you that on Iran's side the will is 100% – the nuclear file will be resolved in a short period of time."
The Iranian president said the setting of a date for detailed negotiations in Geneva was "a positive step". Rouhani rejected suggestions that his flexibility at the negotiating table was constrained by hardline forces back in Iran.
"In the talks, in general, there is a long of common ground," Rouhani said.
"We have said that Iran will prepare a plan. Iran will prepare that plan and present it in Geneva and we hope that an even more positive step will be taken at Geneva to help settle the nuclear issue."
He did not go into specifics, but observers said it was a possible reference to the implementation of an early confidence-building measure. Rouhani indicated that the process of defusing tensions over the nuclear programme would be a phased but relatively swift affair, involving such trust-building steps.
"Step by step we will build confidence between our presidents and our countries. With sufficient will on both sides – and I assure you that on Iran's side the will is 100% – the nuclear file will be resolved in a short period of time," Rouhani said, rejecting suggestions that his flexibility at the negotiating table was constrained by hardline forces back in Iran.
"My government has full authority in these negotiations with support from all three arms of government as well as the people of Iran. I have complete backing.""My government has full authority in these negotiations with support from all three arms of government as well as the people of Iran. I have complete backing."
Western diplomats have said they were impressed by Zarif's businesslike approach at the foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday and said he put "new ideas" on the table that they did not describe. Nevertheless, in an indication of the precarious position in which Rouhani finds himself, the state news agency in Iran earlier this week disputed the translation of an interview he conducted with CNN. In the interview, Rouhani acknowledged that the Holocaust took place. CNN pointed out that the translator for the interview was provided by the Iranian government.
"He made some suggestions about some ideas that they have. But I would say there's a lot more to understand," said a senior State Department official. There were also suggestions that Obama and Rouhani might meet informally on the sidelines of the UN general assembly this week, but the prospect of a picture of the two leaders shaking hands appears to have been too much even for the new, moderate regime. A telephone call, however, was more palatable, and appears to have been made possible by successful talks between the two countries' foreign ministers on Thursday.
"He laid out some thoughts that he had about what he thought this whole process might look like, what he thought might be some of the elements in a first step. And it was a very useful insight into Iranian interests, thinking, process, what their timeline is." In Friday's press conference, Obama acknowledged the historic nature of their phone call. "The very fact that this was the first communication between an American and Iranian president since 1979 underscores the deep mistrust between our countries but it also indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history," he said.
Describing the sequence of events that led to the talks, Obama added: "Iran's supreme leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons. Rouhani has indicated that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons. I made clear that we respect the right of the Iranian people to access peaceful nuclear energy."
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