Rouhani’s Potential Reelection to Promote National Calm

A former interior minister and Majlis speaker lauded the foreign policy of President Hassan Rouhani and said his reelection in the May 19 vote would hold out the prospect of promoting a lasting calm in the society. “The incumbent government identified and addressed many external threats through its effective diplomacy,” Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, who heads the Leader’s inspection office, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Sunday. “We used to be subject to political sanctions alongside economic sanctions, which had inflamed tension and panic in the society. But thank God, the situation has improved over the past four years and, God willing, if Rouhani’s government remains in office [for the next term], the society will feel calmer.” A 2015 landmark nuclear pact with major powers that eased international sanctions against Tehran in return for curtailing its nuclear activities is seen as the signature achievement of Rouhani who had taken office two years earlier. The deal, however, has been under fire from Rouhani’s conservative critics who see it as a major concession to hostile western governments. His main conservative contenders in the six-man race are Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Ebrahim Raeisi, a former prosecutor general and the custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH).