President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, right, arrive for a United Nations Peacekeeping Summit, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian news agency says President Barack Obama and Iran’s foreign minister shook hands when they ran into one another on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Tuesday’s report by the official IRNA agency quotes an unnamed diplomatic official as saying Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif came upon Obama “accidentally” and the two shook hands.
U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment.
If confirmed, it would be the first handshake between an American president and Iran’s top diplomat since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ousted a pro-Western monarchy in Iran. The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since then.
Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke over the phone as Rouhani was leaving the U.N. in 2013 after his presidential debut at the General Assembly.
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President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, right, arrive for a United Nations Peacekeeping Summit, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) 
