Rouhani Enlists Iran Jewish MP Against Hard-Liners
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani looks to put behind the charges of Holocaust denial by his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In Iran, much like everywhere else, all politics is local.
This applies to some of the most important reasons behind Rouhani's reported decision to take Iran's Jewish member of parliament, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, with him on his upcoming UN trip to New York.
Contradicting Ahmadinejad's statements, including his remarks regarding the Holocaust, seems to have become an important tool in the arsenal of the Rouhani administration against the hard-liners.
When Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stated publicly on Twitter on Sept. 6 that Iran has never denied the Holocaust, Rouhani and his allies were trying to tell Ahmadinejad and the hard-liners: Your era is over. We are now in charge of how Iran is viewed abroad. Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial made Iran look like an anti-Semitic country and we are going to put a stop to that.
