U.S. President Barack Obama shook hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif in New York on Monday, the highest level handshake between the two nations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Iranian side said the historic handshake had “not been pre-planned” and took part on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly according to a source in the delegation quoted in the IRNA semi-official news agency.
A senior Obama administration official told CNN the two men shook hands but also said that a rumored grip-and-greet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did not take place.