DHAKA: The commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that president Hasan Rohani should have spurned to take last week’s historic telephone call from US counterpart Barack Obama.

‘The president took a firm and appropriate position during his stay’ in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, General Mohammad Ali Jafari said in an interview with the Tasnimnews.com website, reports The Straits Times.

‘But just as he refused to meet Obama, he should also have refused to speak with him on the telephone and should have waited for concrete action by the United States.’

It was the first public criticism by a senior Iranian official of Friday’s landmark first contact between leaders of the two countries since the rupture of diplomatic relations in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

BDST: 1957 HRS, SEPT 30, 2013
RoR/SRS