Khamenei, Iran Choose Statesman Rouhani
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has acquiesced to the will of the people and a perhaps more conciliatory political posture with the election of Hassan Rouhani.
Two days before Iranians voted for who would succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered a rhetorical olive branch to the country’s opposition. He said that even those who “do not support the Islamic system” should come out and vote.
Khamenei’s message was a direct and unprecedented acknowledgement of the reformists and millions of silent secularists who comprise Iran’s "opposition" as stakeholders in the country. It was also a message to them that their votes would count.
