Breaking from his predecessor's combative rhetoric, Hassan Rouhani spoke to concerns of both conservatives and liberals.With expectations so high, Hassan Rouhani's speech to the general assembly was never going to be an easy one. InIran, radicals will have listened intently to their new president, keen to ensure he wouldn't be too soft on the west, especially theUnited States, Tehran's sworn enemy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. After all, 34 years on, faithfuls still chant "death to America" every Friday after performing their weekly prayers.
Reformists, too, had pinned their hopes on Rouhani, expecting him to impress the world with a moderate voice, and to globally revamp Iran's image, so badly hurt under eight years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Being a moderate, an ultimate insider who has tried to bridge the gap between major factions of the Islamic republic, Rouhani succeeded in being just moderate enough albeit judged by Iranian standards. He didn't impress either group, nor did he particularly disappoint them. It was a speech that both sides seemed to agree was worth listening to.
The US president,Barack Obama, also had to consider two sides: sceptics such as Israel and the pro-sanctions congress on one side, and those pushing for direct talks, on the other. Like Obama, Rouhani made sure his speech was a step forward, however minimal, and that it did not add fuel to the existing tensions, not further complicate the current standoff.
Nevertheless it was positive. Western representatives at the UN remained seated and did not join Israel's inevitable boycott of the speech. Intriguingly, Rouhani did not mention, even once, the word that so infamously was associated with his predecessor: Israel (or, as Iranian leaders prefer, "the Zionist regime"). At the end of his speech, he recited a verse from the Qu'ran that talked about the Jewish holy book, the Torah. Those two choices should have pleased the sole Iranian Jewish MPaccompanying Rouhani in his UN visit to New York.
Like Obama, Rouhani played to the domestic audience as well the international. More than half of his speech would have satisfied Iranian radicals enough that they could keep quiet about the rest. Rouhani talked of the dire consequences of international sanctions on Iran, complaining that they have destroyed lives in the manner that wars destroy them. At least on the sanctions issue, he was almost the voice of an entire nation.
He insisted that Iran was no threat to the international community, has no intention to raise the stakes and believed peace was within reach. But he also outlined the conditions under which Iran would agree to a face-saving solution that might work for both sides.
For once, in contrast to the years under Ahmadinejad, Iran's new president did not issue a direct threat to any nation. "Iran poses absolutely no threat to the world or the region," he said, adding that nuclear weapons had no place in the Islamic republic. He addressed Obama directly, saying he had listened carefully to the US president's speech.
"We expect to hear a consistent voice from Washington," he said, apparently referring to the inconsistency between the administration's policy on Iran and the more strident voices emanating from Congress. He also invoked Iran's great ancient poet, Ferdowsi. "Be relentless in the striving for the cause of Good," he said, reciting Ferdowsi's verse. "To bring the spring, you must banish the winter."
Rouhani might have disappointed many for apparently declining an offer made by American officials to meet Obama. But he has already brought encouraging changes, not least putting an end to the embarrassment of the Ahmadinejad years and starting a new chapter for improved relations with the west, or as he would call it "constructive engagement" with the international community.
By The Guardian
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