Will Rouhani sue critics who insult him?

With the presidential elections 10 months away and the likelihood that President Hassan Rouhani will come under more fierce criticism over his campaign promises and lack of tangible results in regard to the nuclear deal, members of the administration have signaled that they will soon take action against individuals who insult the president.

In response to the latest criticisms of the president by conservative clerics, Hojjat al-Islam Majid Ansari, Rouhani’s vice president for legal affairs, said, “We are witnessing unprecedented insults from those [in clerical robes], which are clothes of morality, leading to the breakdown of morality in the country.”

Ansari’s reference to clerical robes was to Hamid Rohani, the head of the Islamic Revolution Document Center, and Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, Friday prayer leader in Mashhad. Rohani said that the president and his policies are a bigger danger for Iran than the United States and Israel. He accused the president of coming into the office with the intention of destroying “Islamic authenticity” and returning the monarchy. Alamolhoda also called Rouhani “Mr. Gullible” and said that despite the president’s claims that the nuclear deal brought honor for Iran, the only thing it has brought is “Italian modeling companies.”

Ansari argued that the president not only has rights as an individual, but as president of Iran he also has “public rights.” Ansari said, “We have a duty to defend the public rights of the people. Insulting the president as a national symbol of all the people of Iran is in reality an insult against all the 77 million people of Iran and their vote.”