President Barack Obama said Friday afternoon that he had spoken with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, marking the first time leaders of the two countries had spoken since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He said the phone call "underscores the deep mistrust between our countries, but also indicates the prospect of moving on that difficult history." Obama's remarks revealing the historic phone call followed major diplomatic breakthroughs Thursday, when top U.S. and Iranian diplomats met to begin launching talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program. They also followed a series of public addresses Rouhani has given in New York amid the United Nations General Assembly, in which he has indicated a newfound Iranian openness to talks with the U.S. and an interest in resolving disputes over Iran's nuclear program, which it maintains is peaceful but which the West suspects is geared toward developing nuclear weapons.
