In the 2013 Iranian presidential debates, then-candidate Hassan Rouhani accused his main rival, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, of having favored an iron fist in dealing with the 1999 student protests when Ghalibaf was national police chief while Rouhani was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Rouhani said, “Mr. Ghalibaf has raised issues that I did not want to discuss here. But now that you have brought it up, I need to state some realities. In the July 1999 meeting, your position was to give the students permits for protests. You said, ‘Let’s wait for them to come out,’ so you and your forces could crush them with a pincer attack. I told you that this is not the way to go. If we give them permits, we also need to provide for their safety.” Rouhani famously thundered, “Mr. Ghalibaf! I am not a colonel, I am a lawyer!”
Rouhani won the presidency in 2013, and many observers have said his remarks in the debates nipped Ghalibaf’s presidential ambitions in the bud.
