The United States and Russia have signaled closer cooperation over nuclear issues, including Iran. The American President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev have agreed that additional sanctions could be imposed against Iran, if it does not demonstrate that it would not develop nuclear weapons. They said the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly that Iran was ready to shake all hands, if they were honestly extended to it. The conciliatory note came at the end of a speech in which the Iranian leader criticised the United States and its allies without mentioning them by name. However, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of countries which undermined the development of other nations under the pretext of preventing arms proliferation.