TEHRAN – Frequently a target of attack by hardliners, Iran’s PresidentHassan Rouhani is benefiting from a sudden surge in support from his formercritics, a week after he called for national unity.
The apparent sea-change in conservative rhetoric follows hawkish commentsby the president himself following Washington’s unilateral May withdrawalfrom a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Visiting Europe to seek economic guarantees, Rouhani lashed out at Israelin the Swiss capital Bern on Tuesday, saying Iran “sees the Zionist regimeas an illegitimate regime”.
And he has questioned the American government’s ability to make good onthreats to prevent other countries buying Tehran’s oil.
The latest evidence of the domestic shift came on Wednesday, in a letter byprominent General Qassem Soleimani to the moderately conservative president.
Soleimani — head of the elite Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations –thanks the president for his “wise and appropriate” words on Israel and theUS, in the letter published by Fars news agency.
Rouhani’s remarks were “a source of pride”, wrote the general.
– ‘Meeting in the Strait’ –
Rouhani is the main Iranian architect of the July 2015 nuclear accord withworld powers, under which his country agreed to rein in its nuclearprogramme in exchange for easing multilateral sanctions which had strangledthe economy.
Some Iranians have interpreted Rouhani’s recent hawkish comments as meaninghe could be open to blocking the Strait of Hormuz — a threat Tehran hasbrandished during past bouts of regional tension.
Some 30 percent of all the world’s sea-borne oil exports pass through thestrait, which runs from the Gulf into the Indian Ocean.
Conservative Iranian media outlets have thrown their weight behind Rouhani.
“Meeting in the Strait” read a headline in Javan — a daily close to theRevolutionary Guards — along with a picture of the president and GeneralSoleimani shaking hands in front of a map of the Strait of Hormuz.
A photo of Soleimani was splashed across the front page of Sazandeginewspaper with the headline “Unity Sepah-Government” (Sepah is the Farsiacronym for the Revolutionary Guards).
Rouhani, who has sought to open up various economic sectors to privateenterprise, has repeatedly criticised the Revolutionary Guards for exertingtoo tight a grip on Iran’s economy.
Since he first took office in 2013, Rouhani has regularly been attacked byultra-conservatives.
He was elected for a second four-year term in May 2017, with the support ofreformers.
After protests around the New Year in many Iranian cities against economichardship, they accused Rouhani of abandoning the country’s weakest citizens.
Some have held up America’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement as proofof the president’s naivety in trusting the West.
– ‘Survival of the nation’ –
As Iran’s rial plunged in value and protests re-ignited, some legislatorscalled in late June for Rouhani to be impeached.
But things changed abruptly after June 27 when he appealed to his opponentsfor help.
Kayhan is another ultra-conservative newspaper now backing the president.
“We must put to one side our differences because, at present, the nationalinterest and the survival of the nation are at stake,” said an editorial.
But Javan signalled the truce may only be temporary.
“Resisting the enemy and preserving the nation’s independence require us tobe together and put our differences to one side until a later date”, wroteeditor-in-chief Abdollah Ganji. – APP/AFP