KARACHI: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday called Nawaz Sharif and expressed the hope that the prime minister would recover soon from his heart surgery.

`I`m so happy that you are recovering well after a successful surgery,` Mr Rouhani was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying during the telephonic conversation.

According to analysts, the conversation between the two leaders will help bilateral relations take a turn for the better, after irritants like the signing of a couple of Indo-Iranian agreements and disclosure that an Indian spy was operating freely from Iran had adversely affected them.

Talking to Mr Sharif, the Iranian president described Pakistan as a brotherly country and said bilateral ties were improving by the day due to the premier`s wisdom.