Tillerson to Rouhani: Iran now has an opportunity to stop supporting terrorists

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called today the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, who won the election, to end financial support to terrorist groups and suspend ballistic missile testing.

Tillerson located in the Saudi Arabia together with US President Donald Trump, said that Rouhani "now has an opportunity to end support" to those groups that are destabilizing the region, the AP agency reported.

The head of American diplomacy expressed the hope that Rouhani will stop ballistic missile tests, France Press reported.

Iran today extended sanctions against nine more companies, organizations and individuals linked to the United States, in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran over its ballistic missile program.

In February, US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on more than 20 individuals and companies linked to Iran over Tehran's ballistic missile test. Iran responded in March by introducing similar measures.

Three days ago, the US introduced new sanctions against seven more companies linked to Iran's ballistic missile program. On that day, the US simultaneously announced that it had extended the decision to lift harsh sanctions on Tehran, which was agreed upon after reaching the historic nuclear agreement in 2015.

Tillerson did not want to comment on the elections in Iran today, saying only that Iran, in addition to stopping ballistic tests and supporting terrorism, should restore freedom of speech.

Relations between the US and Iran have been particularly strained since Trump came to power, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, which is Iran's regional rival.