Iran's Rouhani mocks his opponents, again

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has once again caused a stir by mocking those opposed to his administration’s policies.

Speaking to banking and financial officials about bringing inflation down to single digits after it had been close to 40% before he took office in 2013, Rouhani said, “This great achievement must be protected.” Suggesting that some individuals may be trying to undo this, he added, “Of course, I am not unaware. Some, with the excuse of opposition to the administration, damage the hope and future of the people; of course, these actions are due to lack of reason.”

The accusation that critics or the opposition “lack reason” may seem like a mild insult in English. However, in Persian the term has a much more negative and insulting connotation. Conservative news websites used the term in their headlines. Fars news agency’s headline about Rouhani’s speech read, “Rouhani once again insulted his critics.” Other conservative sites just used Rouhani’s own words as their headlines.

Tasnim news agency compiled a list of 54 insults that Rouhani has used against his critics. Even media outside of the country took notice of Rouhani’s comments. BBC journalist Mehdi Parpanchi tweeted a number of insults Rouhani has used against critics in addition to the latest one, including “semi-literate,” “backward,” “delusional” and “unemployed.”