The call between the two leaders took place soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Sharif and greeted him on the eve of holy month of Ramadan.

“I talked today with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan regarding a recent increase in the tensions publicly between India and Pakistan. It’s of enormous concern to all of us for all the obvious reasons,” Kerry told State Department reporters in a conference call from his home town of Boston where he is recovering from a leg injury.

“These are two very, very important countries playing a critical role with respect to regional interests, and it’s very, very important that there be no misinterpretation or miscalculation with respect to any of the back-and-forth and the empowerment some entities might feel as a result of that,” Kerry said.

According to the Secretary of State, Sharif was extremely forthcoming.

“He could not have been more direct. He had actually just finished a conversation himself with the Prime Minister of India,” he said.

“We welcomed some thinking together about how we can work, all of us, to try to reduce those tensions over the course of the next days and weeks,” Kerry said.