In a widely anticipated United Nations speech from new the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani; the world heard him preach of tolerance and understanding on Tuesday. He said nuclear weapons had no place in Iran’s future and called for new nuclear talks. He decried the pain the economic sanctions have brought his country and offered nuclear negotiations to ease this pain. This new tone from the Iranian president suggests an opportunity to possible diplomatic relations. Something the two countries have not had since 1979.
Sadly, for late night talk show comedian, the days when the Iranian president would take the stage causing a walkout of western diplomats may be gone. Don’t expect the same late night TV comedic spin on the Iranian president’s speech as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a name of the past.
Iran’s approach to the west has drastically changed since their new president has taken the helm. They have offered compromise over their nuclear program and the supreme leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei recently tweeted Rosh Hashanah well wishes to the Jews. They are calling it the charm offensive. President Rouhani has written private letters to Obama, who in return responded. He has even released some political prisoners as a show of goodwill. The most important, however, may be his switching nuclear discussion authority away from his national security team over to his foreign minister, a moderate diplomat with deep knowledge of America.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t buying it, calling Rouhani a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Rightfully so, Iran’s president has repeatedly said Israel has no place in the region and has called for the elimination of the Zionist regime. No wonder he would call Rouhani a hypocrite after hearing the speech.
Many readers know we do not like Iran because President Bush in 2002 included them in the axis of evil with North Korea and Iraq. Historians know the U.S. led the 1953 Iranian coup d’état that deposed Iran of its democratically elected Prime Minister and replaced it with an American friendly monarch. The British again converted the country’s oil and the United States had another ally in the region. As I often write, American values regarding democracy around the world are complex when it comes to oil and influence.
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 that ousted their last monarch set the stage for the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy. President Jimmy Carter’s mishandling delivered a new President Ronald Reagan with a new Iranian government that hated the United States.
Although President Rouhani snubbed Obama’s invitation for an encounter at the U.N. Tuesday, citing a complexity of the image back home; many are more at ease from the new tone of peace. However, more know Rouhani is considered a relative moderate amid the hard-line clerics who control Iran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the head of state and controls all important matters, including the nuclear program. So, has nothing really changed but the messenger?
