A White House official confirmed this Tuesday, saying “there was a brief interaction at the luncheon, where they shook hands”.
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There were earlier a few speculations about possible meeting of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and his USA counterpart on the sidelines of the assembly, however it did not happened.
But Iranian hard-liners appeared bothered by the handshake.
The handshake could prompt hardliners in Iran to protest and to call on Zarif to provide an explanation.
Mansour Haghighatpour, a hardline lawmaker from the city of Ardabil, told the Fars News Agency that Zarif’s handshake with Obama was an “obscene act”, sending the message that Iran was ready to sit down have a “Nescafé” with its enemy. The phone conversation was the first direct communication in decades between the heads of state of the two countries. The official said it was a chance encounter and not pre-planned. And Zarif was Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator, spending months in talks with Secretary of State John Kerry and other top diplomats. His people at the foreign ministry said their boss and Obama shared an unplanned, impromptu greeting in the hallways of the United Nations.
Remember when Beyoncé and First Lady Michelle Obama embraced in a big ol’ bear hug at Saturday’s Global Citizen Festival? Iranian conservatives severely criticized Rouhani on the issue.
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“Chanting “Death to America” does not create jobs, or make Iran more secure”, Obama said. But relations have improved since July when a deal ended a standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
