Rouhani meets mixed reception upon return to Iran from UN General Assembly.

Rouhani meets mixed reception upon return to Iran from UN General Assembly.(JPost)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was met with a mixed reception Saturday upon his return to Tehran from the UN General Assembly in New York.

Hundreds of Iranians cheered Rouhani on his return from New York on Saturday after his historic phone call with US President Barack Obama but a smaller number of hardliners shouted "Death to America" and threw eggs and shoes at his official car leaving the airport, Iranian media reported.

Iranian media said hundreds of Rouhani supporters keen to see him make good on pledges of "constructive interaction" with the world to ease Iran's international isolation and get punitive sanctions lifted turned up to hail his UN visit.

But about 100 conservative hardliners also appeared and, shouting the "Death to America" slogan common since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, pelted his official car with eggs and stones in protest at Rouhani's diplomatic opening towards Washington, according to witness reports posted on Twitter.

According an AFP correspondent, about 60 hardline Islamists chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as Rouhani's convoy left Mehrabad Airport in Iran's capital city.

The semi-official Mehr news agency ran pictures of groups of protesters holding up a Death to America placard and banging the sides of Rouhani's limousine as it began to depart the airport. Mehr said one protester threw his shoes at the car, a gesture of deep insult in the Islamic faith.

There has been little reaction so far from Iran's political leaders but one senior parliamentarian tentatively welcomed Rouhani's conversation with Obama as a sign of the Islamic Republic's "position of authority".
"This (phone call) shows that Iran's place in the world is of critical importance. That the president of America insists on a telephone call is a sign of sincerity," Mehr quoted the head of parliament's committee for national security and foreign affairs, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, as saying on Saturday.
The Iranian currency, the rial, climbed against the dollar on the open market by around two percent following the landmark phone call.