TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, addressed twin appeals on Aug. 4 to a suspicious international community and his own beleaguered people, promising to seek detente with the former and act on behalf of the latter, including those who did not vote for him or even vote at all.
Rouhani, a 64-year-old cleric partly educated in Scotland, took the oath of office before the Iranian parliament, then delivered a crisp address that sharply contrasted with the pseudo-philosophical meanderings of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.