How does Trump’s rhetoric match the reality of the administration’s policy? And Iranian decision-makers are well aware of this.
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For a President whose first months in office have been marked by a frenzied pace but little policy direction, Trump’s move to realign traditional USA allies in a united front against Iran amounts to one of the first firm outlines of a doctrine that, until now, has been rooted primarily in flexibility.
We should hope that pragmatism will continue to guide his administration and the bluster of the campaign trail, given renewed expression on his current trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel, is merely him giving those audiences what they want to hear. As such, once again, Iranians voted against a candidate who was considered to be favoured by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Unlike Saudi Arabia, which occasionally holds elections for municipal councils, Iran regularly holds elections for president, parliament and other posts.
In a news conference in Tehran on Monday, Rouhani said Trump’s first visit overseas was a “theatrical gathering with no practical or political value”.
Moazzami said the multilateral nuclear agreement that brought sanctions relief to Iran was paying off nonetheless.
Rouhani, known as pragmatist and reformist has engaged his country in foreign policy changes. President Hassan Rouhani also supported this call. Everyone, including Rouhani, knows that the economy is the Iranian government’s Achilles’ heel. Each province’s governor announces the final results of the municipal elections and tallying results from those votes always take more time than presidential polls.
The reemphasis on traditional U.S. alliances here has drawn broad welcome from Arab and Israeli leaders, who offered outsized praise for Trump despite few details for his plans moving forward. Rafsanjani’s vote total surpassed all the votes received in Tehran by hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi in his failed presidential bid against Rouhani. Yet that it could happen at all is a reminder just how far Saudi oil money and Jewish expansionist influence (including the family of his close adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner) have led the U.S. into so many policy disasters in this region. Iran was fundamental in the creation of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party that now has Lebanon’s strongest military force.
“Battlelines are being drawn and it’s worrying, especially when it comes just a day after the election victory of Rouhani which showed a real dynamic in favour of democratisation and opening in Iranian society”, said Azadeh Kian of Sciences Po University in Paris. He also controls Astan-e-Quds Razavi, one of the wealthiest foundations, and is seen a possible successor to the present Supreme Leader who is 77 and in poor health.
US-Iran relations had reached a major breakthrough, but the prospect of growing Iranian influence in the region unsettled many, including Saudi Arabia, a longtime US ally.
Rouhani added that he was positive that with more cooperation, better conditions can be established for the people of the region.
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Like Rouhani, Zarif has raised the sticking point of 911. The conservatives are animated by a desire to maintain their grip on Iran’s state-dominated economy; a preference for pious managers over technocrats; aversion to globalism; a proclivity to align Iran with Russian Federation (and China) against the West, especially the USA; persistent pursuit of Shia power by expanding Iran’s support for the likes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah in Lebanon; antipathy toward cultural openness; and persistent misogyny. “It shows that the majority in the Arab and Islamic worlds will be close to the United States if it chooses to engage”.
