The telephone call between Hassan Rouhani and Barack Obama took place on September 27, 2013 during Hassan Rouhani's first visit to New York, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. This historic 15-minute telephone conversation was the first communication between the two countries since ties were severed in 1979. Hundreds of international news agencies and newspapers headlined their news coverage by telephone calls from Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani. Six years later, Rouhani re-defended the move, saying: