Iranian, British foreign ministers held rare direct phone call yesterday, Tehran says

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke yesterday by phone with his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, an Iranian foreign ministry statement says, in a rare case of direct contact between the two countries.

The ministry says that in yesterday’s call, the ministers “stressed the need to continue consultations at various levels to strengthen mutual understanding and pursue issues of mutual interest.”

A UK government source says Cooper “emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear program and raised a number of other issues.”

In a statement, Iran says Araghchi criticized “the irresponsible approach of the three European countries towards the Iranian nuclear issue,” referring to Britain, France and Germany.

The three countries at the end of September initiated the reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program.

The source in London says Cooper also raised the case of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran for nearly a year on suspicion of espionage. The Foremans, both in their early fifties, were seized in January as they passed through Kerman, in central Iran, while on a round-the-world motorbike trip.

Iran accuses the couple of entering the country pretending to be tourists to gather information for foreign intelligence services, an allegation the couple’s family rejects.

Before Friday’s call, the last exchange between the two ministers was in October.