Iranian Conservatives Depict Obama Handshake as Pact With Devil
- "Chance encounter" at UN seen as betrayal of revolution
- Zarif-Obama handshake takes political pressure off Rouhani
President Barack Obama appears at UN headquarters on Sept. 29, 2015, in New York City.
Photographer: Anthony Behar-Pool/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Iranian hard-liners wasted no time labeling Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as “unrevolutionary” for shaking hands with Barack Obama.
It’s the first gesture of its kind between a U.S. president and a high-ranking Iranian official in more than three decades. It took place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and overnight caused a stir back in Tehran. Lawmaker Hamid Rasaee posted a picture of a handshake between a man and a red-skinned devil with long black nails on his Instagram account.