Rouhani’s win

The victory of Iran’s moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani in the presidential election is good news on many counts. He was able to secure the support of the opposition as well as the reform groups within Iran. Hopefully, a departure will be made from the hard-line worldview of his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had taken the country towards international isolation. A remarkable feature of the Iranian elections was the high voter participation of 72 per cent. Compared with the 55 per cent in the recent Pakistani elections, this surely sets a benchmark for the region. Rouhani’s election campaign highlighted, not unlike Nawaz Sharif, the economic woes of Iran and on working out a more conciliatory approach towards the West. Iran badly needs relief from the sanctions imposed by the West, especially the United States, for its economy to pick up.

The fundamentals of Iranian polity remain unchanged. The all-powerful “Supreme Leader” and the council of clerics firmly control policy in the country. But this minor shift will work in Iran’s favour as president-elect Rouhani was the lead nuclear negotiator under the reign of Mohammad Khatami and is, therefore, well endowed with diplomatic experience. Iran’s growing young population and the quest of its populace to integrate with the world should be better served with this win.

The real question is whether the new president would be given some space by the powerful Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and endow him with the authority to improve relations with the West. The West must note the message given by the Iranian population. A majority of the country’s population has backed the pragmatic line that Rouhani takes. Thus, it is time for effective engagement with Tehran and giving up on paranoia over Iran’s nuclear programme. Pressured by the pro-Israel groups in the US, the Obama Administration had adopted a coercive approach. Given Iran’s proximity to Pakistan and Afghanistan and the 2014 Nato pullout, it is essential that the US support regional cooperation efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.