LONDON--British Prime Minister David Cameron had a "cordial" and
"substantive" 30-minute phone call with Iranian President Hasan
Rouhani on Thursday during which both leaders reaffirmed their
commitment to securing a deal in negotiations over Iran's nuclear
program, a U.K. government spokeswoman said.
The two also discussed the situation in Yemen and some bilateral
issues, including talks about reopening of the British embassy in
Tehran.
"The prime minister emphasized to the president that it was
important for everyone to show flexibility on the key elements
outstanding in the [nuclear] discussions if a deal is to be
achieved," she said. "And the PM made a point that Iran needs to
recognize that there are concerns held by the wider international
community about whether Iran's nuclear program is being developed
for peaceful purposes and the Iranians needed to take on board that
the E3+3 [a bloc of three EU nations--Germany, France and the
U.K.--and three non-EU nations--the U.S., Russia and China] would
need to allay those concerns through any deal."
The spokeswoman declined to give details of the substance of the
nuclear negotiations, but said Britain was clearly approaching the
talks with the view that it was "possible to do a deal with Iran
that will ensure we stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon."
Mr. Rouhani also spoke to French President François Hollande on
Thursday. A statement from Mr. Hollande's office said the French
president "insisted on the need for everyone to work in good faith
to achieve a lasting, robust and verifiable agreement" on Iran's
nuclear program.
In a series of messages on Mr. Rouhani's official English
twitter account, the Iranian president said the country's nuclear
program was peaceful and said the lifting of international
sanctions on the country was the main step to reaching a deal.
Mr. Rouhani also said countries should abstain from military
intervention in Yemen. Earlier, five Persian Gulf states and Egypt
lined up to coordinate military action in Yemen after Saudi Arabia
launched airstrikes there Thursday at the request of Yemen's
president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Britain's government said Thursday that it supported Saudi
Arabia's intervention but was not contributing to the effort.
In their phone call, Mr. Cameron made the point to Mr. Rouhani
that the best way to ensure that Islamist militant groups like
Islamic State do not gain ground in Yemen was to support Mr. Hadi
as the legitimate leader of the country, the spokeswoman said. The
U.K. prime minister also told Mr. Rouhani that a political process
was required to restore stability in Yemen and as part of that,
other countries should avoid supporting the Houthi militants, she
added.
Write to Nicholas Winning at nick.winning@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires