海角大神

Hassan Rohani: What it means to be a centrist in Iran

Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani has the insider credentials needed for regime credibility and the reformist tendencies that could allow him to heal the rift with the US.

Focus

Just days after scoring a stunning election victory in Iran, President-elect Hassan Rohani posted a photograph to Twitter of himself visiting an American field hospital that had been set up in Iran in 2003, part of an emergency global relief effort after the earthquake in Bam, Iran.

It was an unmistakable signal from the centrist candidate who defeated a slate of conservatives with promises of ending 鈥渆xtremism鈥� in Iranian politics: Expect a bold pragmatism 鈥� buoyed by a popular mandate 鈥� that will improve ties with the United States, ease nuclear tensions, and ensure more freedoms at home.

But who is Hassan Rohani, a multilingual cleric and regime insider with degrees from a university in Scotland, who 鈥� with 50.71 percent of the vote and a first-round win 鈥� has assumed control of the middle ground in a long-divided Iran?

After decades of serving the ideals of Iran鈥檚 Islamic Revolution, Rohani is both trusted by the conservative supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and supported by reformists who voted for change June 14. His victory sparked scenes of ecstatic celebration. Even key conservatives are suddenly declaring it possible, despite Iran鈥檚 vicious political divide, to be both a reformist and 鈥減rincipalist.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 a power shift from extreme right or left for the center, and [Rohani is] a mullah who has the trust and the ear of the leader, [as well as] a very good working relationship with people on the left,鈥� says a veteran analyst in Tehran who asked not to be named. 鈥淪o perhaps after a long, long time, we have a situation in which a single man can represent the largest part of the political spectrum of Iran. It鈥檚 a golden opportunity if it鈥檚 not wasted.鈥�

Mixed signals聽

The 64-year-old Rohani has key insider credentials. Born in the town of Sorkheh east of Tehran, he began religious studies when he was 12 years old. In the mid-1960s, he began giving speeches against the pro-West shah and was arrested many times by the Shah鈥檚 security forces. He met fellow revolutionary Mr. Khamenei on a train in 1967.

According to his memoirs, in the late 1960s Rohani sneaked into Iraq to see the founder of Iran鈥檚 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in exile in Najaf. He was by his side during critical pre-revolution days in Paris. Rohani is 鈥渁 wheeler-dealer and strategic thinker in the politics of Iran,鈥� but the fact that he studied law at Tehran University is telling, says Farideh Farhi, an Iran specialist at the University of Hawaii.聽

鈥淗e was admitted to the toughest university in Tehran before the revolution 鈥� that鈥檚 when the law school had not turned religious,鈥� Ms. Farhi explains. The same law school produced Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. 鈥淪o one cannot doubt, given the competitiveness of that process, that he鈥檚 actually a rather smart guy.鈥�

After the revolution, Rohani was elected to parliament several times. He also held top posts throughout the 1980s Iran-Iraq War and spoke during Friday prayers at Tehran University, extolling the virtues of 鈥渄efense and jihad.鈥� Fighting for life and land was sacred, Rohani preached: 鈥淏ut if defense takes the form of preserving religion, that defense is more sacred than anything.鈥�

Later, Rohani earned higher degrees from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. He wrote a PhD thesis titled 鈥淭he Flexibility of shariah (Islamic law) with reference to the Iranian experience.鈥�

Rohani served as Khamenei鈥檚 chosen representative to Iran鈥檚 Supreme National Security Council for 16 years. A decade ago, under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, he served as Iran鈥檚 top nuclear negotiator, working out a deal with European leaders to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment, which conservative critics later lambasted as 鈥渨eak.鈥澛�

During that time, in March 2004, Rohani gave a handwritten message to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, who handed it directly to US President George W. Bush, as Rohani requested.

The letter, on a single sheet of paper without letterhead or signature, said that 鈥淚ran was ready to enter into dialogue with the United States on all issues, including both Iran鈥檚 nuclear program and broader matters of regional security,鈥� and to pursue 鈥渇ull normalization of relations,鈥� according to Mr. ElBaradei鈥檚 memoir.

Rohani鈥檚 letter was Iran鈥檚 second approach to the White House. The first, a more expansive offer to talk, was faxed to Washington shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It came a few months after Rohani was photographed with the American earthquake crews in Bam.

Neither received a response.

A 'perfect realist'

In his first press conference after the vote, Rohani spoke of the need to heal the 鈥渧ery old wound鈥� of US-Iran estrangement. 鈥淲isdom tells us both countries need to think more about the future,鈥� he said.

Rohani said Iran was open to US talks, but laid down preconditions. Several months ago Khamenei 鈥� who makes all final decisions of state 鈥� ruled out direct negotiations while the US subjected Tehran to sanctions and covert pressure that Khamenei likened to 鈥減ointing the gun at Iran.鈥澛�

But analysts note a shift is widely expected after nearly 72 percent of Iranians turned up at the polls and elected a centrist. The job won鈥檛 be easy: Rohani inherits an economy staggering under sanctions and mismanagement, a nation made a pariah over its nuclear program and anti-Holocaust rhetoric, and a population with little to cheer about.

鈥淩ohani鈥檚 a perfect realist,鈥� says an Iranian political scientist in Washington who asked not to be further identified. 鈥淒espite the fact he has open-minded and reformist orientations in both domestic and foreign policy, he knows how to deal with the clerical establishment and the supreme leader and his office; he knows the inner workings of the system.

鈥淭he country has come through such a traumatic period the last eight years, and worsening of the situation, that expectations are much lower right now,鈥� he adds. 鈥淏ut there is a conscious effort by the establishment to give him a little more flexibility and room to maneuver ... he has public momentum right now.鈥�