'Rouhani should not have taken Obama call'

The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has said President Hassan Rouhani should have refused to take last week's purported telephone call from his US counterpart Barack Obama.

The public criticism came on Monday and was the first by a senior Iranian official of Friday's historic first contact between leaders of Iran and the US since the rupture of diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"The president (Rouhani) took a firm and appropriate position during his stay" in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting, General Mohammad Ali Jafari told Tasnimnews.com.