海角大神

Despite Hassan Rohani鈥檚 impressive revolutionary pedigree, it is his quarter-century of involvement with Iran鈥檚 nuclear program that will most interest the US and Israel.

As the top nuclear negotiator from 2003-05, Mr. Rohani oversaw the only nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, earning him the nickname 鈥渄iplomat sheikh鈥� and impressing his European counterparts as a smart and able negotiator.

Rohani 鈥渋s naturally courteous, respectful, and engaged. He鈥檚 straightforward and pragmatic to deal with 鈥� but intensively protective of Iran, its people, and of the Islamic revolution,鈥� former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw .

Mr. Straw recalled a moment in October 2003, when he and the听German and French听foreign ministers traveled to Iran to forge a nuclear deal. They were about to leave without it.

鈥淲e then watched as [Rohani] worked the phones to the president [reformist Mohammad Khatami], and, crucially, to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, to gain greater freedom of maneuver. It showed impressive flexibility. After a round of tough negotiations, we got a deal: the Tehran Declaration,鈥� Straw wrote.

That nuclear history is crucial to understanding Rohani鈥檚 promises of 鈥渕oderation鈥� and recalibrating听antagonistic听relations with the West.听

In the US and European capitals, skepticism about an overnight transformation runs deep. The P5+1 group (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) has been engaged with Iran for 1.5 years 鈥撎齧ostly fruitlessly.听

Rohani pledged that Iran will be 鈥渕ore dynamic鈥� in P5+1 talks and says it is ready for 鈥渕ore transparency鈥� to ease Western fears it seeks a nuclear weapon. But he has also made clear that Iran鈥檚 fundamental demands 鈥� recognition of its 鈥渞ight鈥� to peaceful nuclear enrichment and lifting nuclear-related sanctions 鈥� have not budged.

There is now a chance of 鈥渕oving from the confrontation era to the cooperation era,鈥� says Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former member of Rohani鈥檚 negotiating team now at Princeton University.

Presidents do not trump Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei鈥檚 decisions on the nuclear file, but they set a tone. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad鈥檚 provocative rhetoric virtually dared world powers to pile on sanctions, and current nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili has been criticized as inflexible.听

鈥淸Rohani鈥檚] strategy is really based on cooperation, on engagement and common interests and removing hostilities鈥�and resolving every problem in a peaceful way,鈥� says Mr. Mousavian, describing the cleric as a strategic thinker who 鈥渃onsults with everyone鈥� and 鈥渁rgues a lot, different aspects, different scenarios鈥� before making a decision.

Hardliners have attacked Rohani鈥檚 conciliatory approach for years, accusing him of听suspending enrichment in a 2004 deal for nothing,听prompting Iran to resume enrichment in mid-2005. Even Khamenei听cast the deal as a mistake听and said he doubted the Europeans would follow through. Mohammad ElBaradei, chief of the UN nuclear watchdog agency at the time, said the agreement Rohani struck with Britain, France, and Germany was fundamentally watered down under American pressure.

Iran听"moved rapidly"听and suspended enrichment within a week, writes Mr. ElBaradei in his 2011 memoir. But the deal fell apart听months later听because 鈥渢he offer prepared by the Europeans proposed few of the benefits discussed at the time of the听Paris Agreement鈥�. Not only was the proposal meager, but its tone was patronizing, bordering on arrogant.鈥�

Yet in a 2004 speech听to Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolution Council,听Rohani described how during earlier negotiations听Iran was simultaneously expanding听its uranium conversion听work.听

鈥淲hile听we were听talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the facility in Isfahan,鈥� he said. 鈥淏y creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work in Isfahan.鈥�

He also spoke then about the depth of mutual mistrust: 鈥淭hey think we are out to dupe them, and we think in the same way 鈥� that they want to trick and cheat us.听Therefore, we should build trust, step by step and in practice.鈥�

Interestingly, Rohani states: "In the end, we 鈥� the Europeans and us 鈥� might compromise, accept something less than 100 percent, and reach an accord."

Rohani鈥檚 rhetoric is qualitatively different from the firebrand 鈥渆nemy鈥� theme of recent years, and his election presents a 鈥渘ew opportunity鈥� for the West, Mousavian says.听

鈥淭he question is: Whether the West will have learned enough lessons, and whether they would again miss the new opportunity, or not,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ill the international community 鈥� specifically the US 鈥� follow the [same] regime change [policy], radical threats, pressures, isolation, all this you have heard for 30 years? Or this time will they really go for a genuine, sincere engagement?鈥�

Rohani will almost certainly choose听a new nuclear negotiator听to replace Jalili, after the criticisms leveled at the current team.听Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran who has a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT,听is reportedly on the shortlist.听

Yet P5+1 negotiators are unlikely to be uniformly reassured.听Like other Iranian officials, Rohani has publicly rejected nuclear weapons, but speaks strongly about Iran's right to nuclear energy.听After so many years grappling with the nuclear issue, including writing听his own 1,200-page memoir on Iran's nuclear diplomacy,听Rohani's views are relatively well known.听

In the 2004 closed-door speech Rohani acknowledged that Iran's secrecy in the early stages of its nuclear effort "is the root of all problems. If we had done it openly, the problem would have been far simpler."听

鈥淚f one day we are able to complete the [nuclear] fuel cycle and the world sees that it has no choice, that we do posses the technology, then the situation will be different,鈥� Rohani said, according to a September 2005 transcript by the , the Expediency Coucil think tank of which Rohani has been director since 1992. A translation is posted online by .听

鈥淭he world did not want Pakistan to have an atomic bomb or Brazil to have the fuel cycle,鈥� Rohani said. 鈥淏ut Pakistan built its bomb and Brazil has is fuel cycle, and the world started to work with them. Our problem is that we have not achieved either one, but we are standing at the threshold. As for building the atomic bomb, we never wanted to move in that direction.鈥�