British Prime Minister David Cameron called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on November 19—becoming the United Kingdom’s first prime minister to contact an Iranian president in over 10 years. The call comes just over a week after Britain restored diplomatic relations with Iran, which were suspended in November 2011.

Britain’s ambassadors were expelled from Iran after the UK imposed tougher sanctions two years ago. A few days later, Iranian authorities stood aside and allowed an angry mob to ransack the British embassy. In response, Britain cut all diplomatic ties and evacuated British nationals.

Now Mr. Cameron is following United States President Barack Obama’s lead in calling Iran—taking the initiative and reaching out to the Iranian leader. This despite the fact that Iran has issued no apologies for its actions. The phone call even took place before Iran made a deal with the Western world.

Both Mr. Cameron and Mr. Obama are showing Iran that it doesn’t need to change its behavior—threatening Israel, building weapons of mass destruction, violating international law on the protection of embassies and diplomats. Iran doesn’t have to do anything for the U.S. and UK to reach out to them.

No wonder Iran got such a good deal in Geneva other the weekend. Through these phone calls, Britain and America made clear that they were desperate to get an agreement. If you are trying to negotiate a good price on a car, you don’t tell the salesman how desperate you are to own it.

“In the high-stakes world of geopolitics, small gestures matter greatly,” wrote Trumpet columnist Brad Macdonald last month. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote, “The truth is that President Obama’s phone call to Rouhani was the most shameful call ever made by a leader of this land!”

Now Mr. Cameron has repeated that gesture. It is a gesture that strengthens Iran’s position while weakening the UK’s standing in the world.