Rouhani, the new president of Iran
Written by Sadegh Afrouz
The eleventh presidential election ended with Hasan
Rouhani’s victory. The Interior Ministry in Iran stated that Rouhani has gained
more than 50 percent of the votes and that the second round of the election is
not necessary.
Unlike Ahmadinejad, Rouhani was not an unknown politician.
Rouhani has been among the top circle of the ruling class from the 1979 Iranian
Revolution. Rouhani, who was a clergy and graduate from a religious school and
law school in Tehran University was known as a very close ally of Khomeini and Khamenei.
When the 1979 riots started in Iran, Rouhani was studying in Europe. The photos
taken in France showed him sitting with Khomeini. Although he left the country
2 years before the revolution, he was active among the Muslim students abroad.
Right after the collapse of the Shah’s regime, he was appointed to key
positions in the new system. He was elected to the Iranian Parliament. He
served five consecutive terms from 1980 to 2000. During this time in the Iranian
Parliament, he was the Speaker of the Parliament and Head of Defense and Foreign
Policy Committees. In 1988, he was appointed as the Deputy Commander in Chief
of Armed Forces. Khamenei appointed Rouhani as head of the National Security Council
in 1989. He has held the position ever since that date. Rouhani was appointed
by Khamenei as a member of the Expediency Council in 1991. He has been the
member of the council ever since that date.
Rouhani received full support from reformists after the
Guardian Council rejected the validity of Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani and
Khatami as leaders of the reformists have been under attack by Ahmadinejad’s
followers and fundamentalists. Unlike Rafsanjani and Khatami, Rouhani has been
living in a safe haven. He explained himself as a combination of fundamentalism
and reformism. In a dialogue during the campaign, he showed his loyalty several
times to reformist leaders and the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Rouhani received a little more than 50 percent of the votes
and was announced the future president of Iran. Some analysts predicted that
like the 2008 election, the Islamic regime will cheat and pull out its favorite
candidate from the ballot box. They were warning people to be ready to get
cheated again like last time. In 2008, Ahmadinejad came as a victor from the
ballot box while all the statistics indicated that Mousavi was the winner of
that election. Thousands of people went to the streets and protested against
the unfair election. The Islamic regime suppressed the protests with iron
fists. So many people got killed, tortured, raped, or sentenced to long term imprisonment.
But this time, Rouhani came out as the winner. Since he had slightly over 50
percent, it was not hard for the regime to pull the election to the second
round. This indicated that the Supreme leader was willing to compromise.
The economic crises and boycotts are putting too much
pressure on Iran’s economy. The sale of oil, the main source of Iran’s
government has dropped from 4 million barrels a day to 800 thousand barrels a
day. A lot of factories have been shut down because of the lack of materials or
parts. The cost of medicine has skyrocketed and the black market is booming.
The inflation and unemployment rate are rising. Unemployed workers sell their
body parts to put bread on the table. Prostitution for a lot of low income
families is the only source to get out of poverty.
Rouhani has promised to improve this situation and end the
boycotts. He has promised to negotiate with western countries on Iran’s atomic
activities. He has promised to bring more freedom. People liked to hear these
things. They fell for Rouhani. Are these only empty promises to get attention?
The future will answer this question, but what happened right after his victory
was predicted as not a good sign. A few hours before the results of the
election was announced, the Islamic regime attacked Camp Liberty in Iraq with
missiles. 3 MKO members were killed and many others were injured. As head of
the National Security Council, Rouhani could not be unaware about this plan. The
question is that “what is the difference between him and others?”
June 15, 2013
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