Obama speaks with Iran’s Rouhani

President Obama spoke by phone with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani Friday, both leaders said, following Iranian media reports of the call.

The 15 minute phone call was initiated by Obama at 2:30pm Friday on Rouhani’s last day of a four day trip to New York. It came a day after Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met one on one for thirty minutes to jump start nuclear negotiations.

Obama, in the call, congratulated Rouhani on his election, and urged the two leaders to seize the opportunity for a nuclear deal, a senior White House official said Friday. A “breakthrough on the nuclear issue could open the door to a [more constructive] relationship between the US and Iran,” Obama said, the White House official summarized.

Iranian President Rouhani tweeted the call–tweets the White House said they saw and which accurately conveyed the tone of the call.

In the call, according to Rouhani’s semi official English-language Twitter account, Obama expressed his “respect for [Rouhani] and the people of Iran. I’m convinced that relations between Iran and US will greatly affect region. If we can make progress on nuclear file, other issues such as Syria will certainly be positively affected.”

“I wish you a safe and pleasant journey and apologize if you’re experiencing the [horrendous] traffic in #NYC,” Obama said, according to Rouhani’s tweets.

“The Iranian and US presidents underlined the need for a political will for expediting resolution of West’s standoff with Iran over the latter’s nuclear program,” Alireza Miryusefi, a spokesperson for the Iranian mission to the UN, said.

“President Rohani and President Obama stressed the necessity for mutual cooperation on different regional issues.”

Obama signed off on the call with a Persian goodbye, after Rouhani wished him farewell in English, the White House said.

On Tuesday, the Iranians declined a US offer to have an Obama Rouhani encounter or handshake in New York, when both leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

Rouhani and Zarif have both described Obama and Kerry in positive terms this week, and expressed optimism about negotiations to ease tensions between the West and Iran over its nuclear program.

“The end goal is to ensure the interest of both sides, step by step to build confidence between the two nations,” Rouhani told journalists at a press conference Friday.