Iran's Rouhani refused to take call with Trump

Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to persuade President of Iran Hassan Rouhani to talk to his US counterpart went as far as installing a secure telephone line on the same hotel floor where the Iranian president was staying, it was reported on Monday.

The story was first published in the New Yorker on Monday, and then the New York Times.

Rouhani, however did not take the call offered by Macron last week, and stayed in his New York hotel room when the French president arrived to try to coax him into a conversation with Donald Trump, according to several accounts. It was confirmed to the Guardian by sources familiar with Tuesday’s events, who stressed that at no point did Rouhani show interest in such a conversation with Macron and Trump.

In a desperate bid to engineer a three-way conversation, Macron had French technicians set up a line last Tuesday evening in a meeting room at the Millenium Hotel, across the road from the UN general assembly. Rouhani was informed that as soon as he entered the room the conversation could start.

(Trump was left waiting on the line for the Iranian leader)



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/30/rouhani-reportedly-refused-to-take-call-with-trump-and-macron-during-un-stay