[The
conversation was the first between Iranian and American leaders since 1979 when
President Jimmy Carter spoke by telephone with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
shortly before the shah left the country, according to Iran experts. The
Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah’s government led to the seizure of the
American Embassy and a 444-day hostage crisis that have left the two countries
at odds with each other ever since.]
By Peter
Baker
In a hurriedly arranged telephone call, Mr. Obama reached Mr. Rouhani as the Iranian leader was headed to the airport to leave New York after a whirlwind news media and diplomatic blitz. The two agreed to accelerate talks aimed at defusing the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and afterward expressed optimism at the prospect of a rapprochement that would transform the Middle East.
“Resolving this issue, obviously, could also serve as a
major step forward in a new relationship between the United States and the
Islamic Republic of Iran, one based on mutual interests and mutual respect,”
Mr. Obama, referring to Tehran’s nuclear program, told reporters at the White
House after the 15-minute phone call. “It would also help facilitate a better
relationship between Iran and the international community, as well as others in
the region.”
A Twitter
account in Mr.
Rouhani’s name later stated, “In regards to nuclear issue, with political will,
there is a way to rapidly solve the matter.” The account added that Mr. Rouhani
had told Mr. Obama, “We’re hopeful about what we will see from” the United
States and other major powers “in coming weeks and months.”
The conversation was the first between Iranian and American
leaders since 1979 when President Jimmy Carter spoke by telephone with Shah
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi shortly before the shah left the country, according to
Iran experts. The Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah’s government led to
the seizure of the American Embassy and a 444-day hostage crisis that have left
the two countries at odds with each other ever since.
Although both Republican and Democratic presidents have
reached out to Tehran in the interim, contact had been reserved to letters or
lower-level officials.
The call came just days after Mr. Obama had hoped to
encounter Mr. Rouhani at a luncheon at the United Nations and expected to shake
hands. Mr. Rouhani skipped the luncheon and later indicated it was premature to
meet Mr. Obama. But a meeting on Thursday between Secretary of State John Kerry
and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran was described as constructive
and led Iranian officials to contact the White House on Friday to suggest the
phone call, according to American officials.
A senior Obama administration official, who briefed
reporters on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities,
said the White House had expressed the president’s interest in meeting Mr.
Rouhani to the Iranians this week but was surprised when they suggested the
phone call. Mr. Obama placed the call from the Oval Office around 2:30 p.m.,
joined by aides and a translator.
He opened by congratulating Mr. Rouhani on his election in
June and noted the history of mistrust between the two nations, but also what
he called the constructive statements Mr. Rouhani had made during his stay in
New York, according to the official. The bulk of the call focused on the
nuclear dispute, and Mr. Obama repeated that he respected Iran’s right to
develop civilian nuclear energy, but insisted on concessions to prevent
development of weapons.
Mr. Obama also raised the cases of three Americans in Iran,
one missing and two others detained. In a lighter moment, he apologized for New
York traffic.
The call ended on a polite note, according to the official
and Mr. Rouhani’s Twitter account.
“Have a nice day,” Mr. Rouhani said in English.
“Thank you,” Mr. Obama replied, and then tried a Persian
farewell. “Khodahafez.”
By talking on the phone instead of in person, Mr. Rouhani
avoided a politically problematic photo of himself with Mr. Obama, which could
have inflamed hard-liners in Iran who were already wary of his outreach to the
United States. As it was, conservative elements in Tehran tried to reinterpret
his statements acknowledging the Holocaust while he was in New York.
The state news channel, the Islamic Republic of Iran News
Network, had not mentioned the phone call with Mr. Obama as of midnight Friday
after word of it broke, and the original messages on Mr. Rouhani’s Twitter
account were deleted and replaced with more anodyne comments. But Mr. Rouhani’s
office announced the call in a statement carried by the Iranian state news
agency.
“This voice contact has for now replaced the actual shaking
of hands, but this is clearly the start of a process that could in the future
lead to a face-to-face meeting between both leaders,” said Amir Mohebbian, a
political adviser close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Abbas Milani, an Iranian scholar at Stanford University,
said Mr. Rouhani wanted to avoid looking as if he was making concessions. “The
U.S. and the West have wisely decided to allow the regime to make its claims of
victory at home, so long as they play earnest ball in meetings abroad,” Mr.
Milani said. A call to a leader on the way to the airport may not be normal
protocol, he added, but “in this case it was adroit policy for both sides.”
American advocates of closer relations between the two
countries were optimistic. “The phone call wasn’t just history,” said Joseph
Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, an arms control group, who attended
a dinner with Mr. Rouhani in New York. “It helped fundamentally change the
course of Iranian-U.S. relations. We’re on a very different trajectory than we
were even at the beginning of the week.”
But others expressed caution, arguing that Iran was reaching
out only because of the sanctions that have strangled its economy.
“The economic pain now is sufficient to oblige a telephone
call, though not a face-to-face meeting,” said Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior
fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which supports stronger
sanctions against Iran. “We will see whether the pain is sufficient for the
Iranians to shut the heavy-water plant at Arak and reverse Iran’s path to a
rapid breakout capacity with enriched uranium.”
Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican
majority leader, criticized Mr. Obama for not pressing Iran to halt what he
said was its support for terrorism and for Syria’s government. “It is
particularly unfortunate that President Obama would recognize the Iranian
people’s right to nuclear energy but not stand up for their right to freedom,
human rights or democracy,” he said.
In announcing the call with Mr. Rouhani, Mr. Obama said
that only “meaningful, transparent and verifiable actions” on the nuclear
program could “bring relief” from sanctions.
“A path to a meaningful agreement will be difficult, and at
this point, both sides have significant concerns that will have to be
overcome,” he said. “But I believe we’ve got a responsibility to pursue
diplomacy, and that we have a unique opportunity to make progress with the new
leadership in Tehran.”
Recognizing the delicacy of the outreach effort, Mr. Obama
made a point of trying to reassure Israel that he would not jeopardize an
ally’s security. “Throughout this process, we’ll stay in close touch with our
friends and allies in the region, including Israel,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is scheduled to
visit Mr. Obama at the White House on Monday.
Before leaving New York, Mr. Rouhani said his government would
present a plan in three weeks on how to resolve the nuclear standoff. “I expect
this trip will be the first step and the beginning of constructive relations
with countries of the world,” he said at a news conference.
He went on to say that he hoped the visit would also
improve relations “between two great nations, Iran and the United States,”
adding that the trip had exceeded his expectations.
Mr. Rouhani and his aides have been on an extraordinarily
energetic campaign to prove that they are moderate and reasonable partners and
to draw a stark contrast with his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But Mr.
Rouhani has yet to propose anything concrete to suggest how different the
Iranians really are in their approach. The first glimpse of that is due to come
on Oct. 15 and 16, when Iran plans to present its own road map in Geneva.
Mr. Rouhani emphasized that his government had the
authority and the will to reach a nuclear settlement within what he called “a
short period of time.” But he was visibly irritated when asked whether his
diplomatic blitz was merely designed to buy time with his Western
interlocutors.
“We have never chosen deceit as a path,” he said. “We have
never chosen secrecy.”
Thomas Erdbrink contributed reporting from
Tehran, Mark Landler from Washington, and Somini Sengupta from the United
Nations.
