TEHRAN, Iran — Wherever you go in Tehran there is one subject many people are discussing: the new government. It has only been two weeks since Hassan Rouhani won the election on June 14 and became Iran’s new president, and since then taxi drivers, shop keepers, journalists, and everyone else are speculating and analyzing. “It's been a very difficult four years, to be honest; the last two years were the worst,” said Mansour, a taxi driver whom I met in Tehran. Mansour is originally from Kerman in southeastern Iran, a civil servant in the morning and taxi driver in the afternoon. He told me, “I’m not a politician, but I know that for the sake of economics politicians have to unite, they have to find solutions for us.”
It is clear that Rouhani knows the importance of starting his era with a national unity government, especially since the majority in the Islamic Shura Council (Iran’s parliament) is with the conservatives. Backed by the vision of Hashemi Rafsanjani [1989-1997] and the approach of Mohammad Khatami [1997-2005], in addition to his negotiation skills, Iran’s president-elect is dealing with the cabinet formation as if it was the nuclear file. “In this election, God guided people’s hearts and indeed a real epic was created. Running the state affairs is a really difficult task and all individuals and organs should help the president-elect.” These were Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s words in his first appearance after the election. Khamenei wanted to tell the group of conservatives who are still criticizing Rouhani that it is time to get to work, and that the former National Security Council representative who has now become the president has to succeed.
