President Obama shook hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly, according to an administration official.
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They “ran into each other quite accidentally”, an unnamed source close to the Iranian delegation at the United Nations told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iran and the United States have been at loggerheads since they severed diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
But the handshake did not go down well with everyone. The phone conversation was the first direct communication in decades between the heads of state of the two countries.
Improving relations with the West, especially the USA, will prove enormously popular among Iranians ahead of key February parliamentary elections Rouhani and Zarif’s allies hope to win against more conservative factions. “A Great Satan that takes pride in remaining as our enemy”. One lawmaker called the handshake “disgusting and unacceptable”, and demanded that Zarif apologize to the Iranian nation.
“We now do not have any plans for a meeting with President Rouhani and we are really not expecting one”, said Ben Rhodes, a senior Obama foreign policy aide.
So what’s the big deal if Zarif shook hands with Obama?
However, the USA president’s reference to Iran’s perceived support for terrorist organisations would have made such a historic encounter tricky.
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The comprehensive nuclear deal, reached on July 14 in Vienna, would terminate all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran after coming into force. Khamenei has insisted in recent months that the Vienna nuclear deal does not mean the hostility between Tehran and Washington is over.
