Earlier this month, for the first time in over a year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with top Reformist figures to listen to their criticism. The meeting raised hopes that the two sides can mend their increasingly strained ties.
In the 2013 presidential elections, Rouhani — who at the time was mostly unknown to the Iranian public — managed to win after gaining the support of the Reformists, including former President Mohammad Khatami. The Reformists again threw their weight behind Rouhani in 2017, thwarting the conservative push to place cleric Ebrahimi Raisi in office.
