Al-Monitor- In his Sept. 20 speech at the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani�responded to his American counterpart�Donald Trump�s speech against Tehran by defining �moderation,��which has long been his key campaign slogan.


Trump�s Sept. 19 UN speech received extensive coverage in Iran, and many Iranians sat down to watch his speech as they were expecting a negative decision to be announced by the US president regarding the�nuclear deal�that was achieved between Tehran and P5+1 (the United States, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) in 2015. The�harsh remarks of Trump�led Iranians to eagerly anticipate their president�s speech at the UN more than in the past. Meanwhile, Iranian hard-liners ��who believe that Rouhani�s foreign policy of developing ties with the world, including with the United States, is wrong � sought to take advantage of the tensions stemming from Trump�s speech, asking Rouhani to answer the US president in at least equally bombastic fashion. Indeed, moderates and Reformists were worried that Rouhani would pursue the hard-liners� approach, which was believed to be in the interest of anti-Iran politicians in the United States.

The moment of truth came Sept. 20. Declining the hard-liners� suggestions, Rouhani addressed the UN diplomatically, avoiding the use of insulting words. Instead, he took subtle swipes at Trump, emphasizing�Iran's having long conquered the world through its culture and poets rather than guns and bullets.

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