Economics

Obama-Rouhani Chat Covers Nuclear Talks, New York Traffic

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The historic conversation between President Barack Obama and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani touched on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and New York City traffic and ended with “Khoda Hafez” from Obama -- Farsi for “God be with you,” an expression used as “goodbye.”

The 15-minute phone call through interpreters yesterday was the highest-level U.S.-Iranian encounter since before Iran’s Islamic revolution of 1979. It sprang from a change of heart by the new Iranian leader, who announced the exchange on the Twitter social network and unfolded as he was driven to the airport to leave the U.S.