Until proven otherwise, Iran’s Hassan Rohani deserves the West’s trust
By Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz, 4th of August 2013
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.539566
The surprise election of Rohani – the only jurisprudent candidate in the bunch, a gray man who is not in the supreme leader’s inner circle – indicated that rational political rules can be applied in Iran after all. But it happened at a time when Iran’s economic situation is among the most difficult in history, and when the country has found itself closest to the first military attack since the Second World War. Iran’s maneuvering area has shrunk and the regime’s ability to survive in the face of domestic pressure depends, yet again, on capitulation to foreign demands.
Rohani is not just the great hope of the young generation, which is expecting an economic revolution. Western countries, and primarily the United States, hope for an Iranian president who won’t drag them into another war in the Middle East, especially considering they have just pulled out of Iraq and are preparing to end their military involvement in Afghanistan. These nations want the incursion in Libya to be the last intervention that aims to replace a regime. In that sense the circumstances favor Rohani.
True, the ultimate decision on uranium enrichment lies with the Supreme Leader Khamenei, but Rohani is tasked with of providing Khamenei with a reason to change his policy. For that, he will need significant cooperation from the U.S. – with whom he already said he wishes to have a direct dialogue. Rohani’s ambitions have not been blocked by Khamenei, despite another round of sanctions imposed by the U.S. last week.
Such a dialogue would require not only a timetable for suspending uranium enrichment, and ultimately ending enrichment altogether; the difficulty lies with questions such as who will give up what, how, and at what cost. Though Rohani’s rhetoric – a skill he has already mastered in the past – will play an important role, it will not be enough. The amount of suspicion and disappointment on both sides is too big to be quelled by soft, polite language.
On the other hand, treating the new president as a sophisticated successor of Ahmadinejad, whose sole aim is to buy Iran more time, will destroy any chance for a diplomatic move. Rohani, who represents at least half of Iran’s citizens and whose candidacy was given the green light by Khameni, is worthy of a period of trust, until proven otherwise. Israel should also wait with its statements, and stop stoking the flames.