Obama Should Invite Iran's Rouhani to Geneva
The election of Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran might present an opening for a political solution to the Syria war.
So much for those who predicted a sullen, uneventful election in Iran.
More than 70% of Iranian voters turned out and overwhelmingly cast their ballots for the centrist Hassan Rouhani, the candidate they hope will bring some normalcy to Iran’s politics and foreign policy. Arash Karami reported that celebrations broke out across Iran when Rouhani was announced the winner.
While most American observers preferred to focus on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s telling the United States to “go to hell” for questioning Iran’s electoral process, an Al-Monitor correspondent in Iran picked up the more interesting nuance in Khamenei’s speech encouraging even those who “do not support the Islamic system” to vote in the election. The correspondent noted, “The supreme leader’s comments actively contributed to the success of a candidate [who] is not within the conservative confines of his 'Principlist' political stable, in the process creating a more inclusive and pluralistic Iran. Contrary to endless punditry about Saeed Jalili being Khamenei’s favored candidate and even the front-runner, it now appears that the supreme leader made the calculated decision to acquiesce to the will of the Iranian people."
Rouhani, who served as secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security and led Iran’s nuclear negotiating team from 2003 to 2005, may have the advantage of being both a moderate and close to Khamenei. “The supreme leader will strongly support Rouhani because they have been friends for 45 years,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, told Al-Monitor.
