Dismantle network of terror, US tells Rouhani
We also hope re-elected president puts an end to Iran’s ballistic missile testing, Tillerson says
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday urged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to dismantle Tehran’s “network of terrorism” and end ballistic missile testing, in Washington’s first reaction to his re-election.
“What I would hope, is that Rouhani... uses that [new] term to begin a process of dismantling Iran’s network of terrorism, dismantling its financing of the terrorist network, dismantling the manning and the logistics and everything that they provide to these destabilising forces that exist in this region,” Tillerson said in Riyadh.
“We also hope that he puts an end to their ballistic missile testing,” Tillerson said at a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart. Tillerson also urged Rouhani to restore to Iranians the “freedom of speech and organisation”.
Rouhani won 57 per cent of the vote, scoring a convincing victory over hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi on 38.3 per cent.
Adel Al Jubeir said the elections in the Islamic republic were an “internal Iranian matter”, in an attempt not to comment.
“Who they choose for their president is their business, as it should be. From our perspective we judge Iran by its actions, not by its words,” he added.
What I would hope, is that Rouhani... uses that [new] term to begin dismantling the manning and the logistics and everything that they provide to these destabilising forces that exist in this region.”
Rex Tillerson |
US Secretary of State
Iranians have chosen the “path of engagement with the world” and rejected extremism, President Hassan Rouhani said following his resounding re-election victory yesterday.
“The message of our people has been very clearly expressed. The Iranian people have chosen the path of engagement with the world, far from extremism,” he said on state television.
Rouhani won 57 per cent of the vote, scoring a convincing victory over hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi on 38.3 per cent.
“The Iranian people want to live in peace and in friendship with the rest of the world, but it does not accept any threat or humiliation,” Rouhani said.
‘Reinforcing democracy’
He took an apparent dig at regional rival Saudi Arabia, which is currently hosting US President Donald Trump.
“Our people have declared to neighbouring countries and the whole region that the path to ensuring security is the reinforcement of democracy and not relying on foreign powers.”
Iranians yearning for more freedom at home and less isolation abroad have emphatically re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, throwing down a challenge to the conservative clergy that still holds ultimate sway.
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli declared Rouhani’s victory yesterday on state TV, citing figures giving Rouhani about 57 per cent of the vote in Friday’s election, compared to 38 per cent for his main rival, hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi.
Although the powers of the elected president are limited by those of unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who outranks him, the scale of Rouhani’s victory gives the proreform camp a strong mandate to seek the sort of change that hardliners have thwarted for decades.
Rouhani’s opponent Raisi, a protégé of Khamenei, had united the conservative faction and had been tipped as a potential successor to the 77-yearold supreme leader. His defeat leaves the conservatives without an obvious flag bearer.
The re-election is likely to safeguard the nuclear agreement Rouhani’s government reached with global powers in 2015, under which most international sanctions have been lifted in return for Iran curbing its nuclear programme.
And it delivers a setback to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the powerful security force which controls a vast industrial empire in Iran. They had thrown their support behind Raisi to safeguard their interests.
“We won. We did what we should do for our country. Now it is Rouhani’s turn to keep his promises,” said coffee shop owner Arash Geranmayeh, 29, reached by telephone in Tehran.
But Rouhani, 68, faces the same restrictions on his ability to transform Iran that prevented him from delivering substantial social change in his first term, and that thwarted reform efforts by one of his two-term predecessors, Mohammad Khatami.
The supreme leader has veto power over all policies and ultimate control of the security forces. Rouhani has been unable to secure the release of reformist leaders from house arrest.
Courts have imposed a ban on the publication of the words — or even images — of the earlier reformist president, Khatami.
Short on euphoria
“The last two decades of presidential elections have been short days of euphoria followed by long years of disillusionment,” said Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on Iran. “Democracy in Iran is allowed to bloom only a few days every four years, while autocracy is evergreen.”
The re-elected president will also have to navigate a tricky relationship with Washington, which appears at best ambivalent about the nuclear accord agreed by former US president Barack Obama. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described it as “one of the worst deals ever signed”, although his administration re-authorised waivers from sanctions last week. Trump arrived yesterday in Saudi Arabia.