Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi dismissed the importance the media has placed over US President Donald Trump passing his phone number to Iran through Switzerland, saying that this step does not solve the problem in ties between the two countries.
Trump passed on his number to the Swiss embassy should the Iranian decide to contact him in wake of mounting pressure on Tehran as Washington piled on the sanctions.
The Young Journalists Club quoted Araqchi as saying that the US has the Iranian leaders' contact information if it needed it.
According to the CNN, the White House contacted the Swiss on Thursday to share a phone number the Iranians could call the President on, according to a diplomatic source familiar with the move.
Trump announced that he is open to talks with the Iranian leadership.
"I'd like to see them call me," he said of the Iranians in the White House on Thursday.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran against confrontation, saying: "The regime in Tehran should understand that any attacks by them or their proxies of any identity against US interests or citizens will be answered with a swift and decisive US response."
The US has deployed an amphibious assault ship and Patriot missile battery to the Middle East in response to what it called a credible threat by Iranian regime forces.
The Embassy of Switzerland in Iran handles the US diplomatic interests after ties between the two sides were severed following the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran.
