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Irans Next Leader Advocates a Less Intrusive State
Vahid Salemi/Associated Press
Published: July 3, 2013
Irans president-elect, Hassan Rowhani, repeated in a speech on Wednesday his promises of more freedoms for Iranians, saying the government should not interfere in peoples private lives.
We need a strong society, Mr. Rowhani told a group of Shiite Muslim clerics during the speech in Tehran, which was broadcast live, telling them to trust the people, whom he called the owners of the Islamic republic.
We should talk to the people, he said. We should hear what they say. We should kindly hear what they say. We should lessen the chances of total rule by the government.
Mr. Rowhani added, A powerful and capable government does not mean a government which meddles in and is in control of all affairs, restricts people and their lives, and meddles in peoples private lives.
After his surprise landslide victory in the June presidential elections, Mr. Rowhani, himself a cleric, has been repeating his electoral promises of more freedom and moderation in a series of speeches.
While many in Iran are wary of political promises and point to the existence of a deep state that makes polices behind the scenes, Mr. Rowhanis continued retreat from the confrontational policies of the departing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is being taken by many as a sign that some changes may be under way.
Mr. Rowhani, speaking at the Interior Ministry, blamed extremists and radicals for many of Irans troubles, saying that in hundreds of cases their actions had hurt the relationship between the Iranian people and those in power.
The remark was a clear attack on Mr. Ahmadinejad and his former supporters, a conservative alliance of hard-line clerics and Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Many in Iran accuse that faction of turning the country into a tightly controlled security state that has imposed a strict interpretation of Islam on the country. During Mr. Ahmadinejads presidency, Iranian hard-liners jailed hundreds of dissidents, journalists and activists and closed numerous newspapers and Web sites. They have also greatly increased the presence of security forces on the streets, and they tightly control the Internet.
Mr. Rowhani made it clear that he rejected such policies, saying that an Islamic society is not monolithic. We must accept various trends and tastes, he said. It is not possible for one taste to rule in a free and large society.
He warned hard-liners that Iran needed tolerance in order to achieve progress. Danger is when God forbid one group considers itself equal to Islam, equal to the revolution, equal to the supreme leader, he said of the hard-liners, often called the traditionalists. They introduce the others as being against all this. All problems originate from this point.
Mr. Rowhanis attacks on the traditionalists have astonished Iranians. Many in the country assumed the traditionalists had quietly taken hold of power during the past decade, ousting reformists and other groups calling for change. But it remains to be seen whether Mr. Rowhani can bring about real changes in peoples lives.
It will be hard, for example, for Mr. Rowhani to turn around Irans sanctions-ridden economy without an agreement of some sort with the United States on Irans nuclear program, and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last word on that matter. But talking of freedoms will at least raise hopes for Irans sprawling urban middle classes.
At the same time it is unclear how much space Mr. Rowhani will actually be given by Irans other centers of power: the judiciary, the armed forces and the alliance of hard-line clerics and commanders. For now, Ayatollah Khamenei has called upon all forces to fully support Mr. Rowhani.
It is not clear how much cooperation Mr. Rowhani can expect. On Sunday, the state newspaper Kayhan, a mouthpiece of the hard-liners, said Mr. Rowhani was a hard-liner himself and urged him not to pick any reformist politicians for his cabinet.
Mr. Rowhani said he was consulting with many candidates to form a cabinet based on skills rather than on ideology, and he criticized those trying to influence him through the news media, saying, Such measures will not bring anything but the peoples tiredness.
In a separate interview with the youth magazine Chelcheragh, Mr. Rowhani said that the filtering of Web sites a common practice in Iran was a political act by some people, and he called such measure senseless. What news havent we heard because of this over the past years, he said. This only creates a big wall of mistrust between the government and the people.
Social media Web sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked by the Iranian Ministry of Telecommunications on the orders of the National Council for Cyberspace, which is headed by Mr. Ahmadinejad. After his inauguration next month, Mr. Rowhani will lead the council. The opening of the Internet will be one of his first tests, analysts say.
Vahid Salemi/Associated Press
Published: July 3, 2013
Irans president-elect, Hassan Rowhani, repeated in a speech on Wednesday his promises of more freedoms for Iranians, saying the government should not interfere in peoples private lives.
We need a strong society, Mr. Rowhani told a group of Shiite Muslim clerics during the speech in Tehran, which was broadcast live, telling them to trust the people, whom he called the owners of the Islamic republic.
We should talk to the people, he said. We should hear what they say. We should kindly hear what they say. We should lessen the chances of total rule by the government.
Mr. Rowhani added, A powerful and capable government does not mean a government which meddles in and is in control of all affairs, restricts people and their lives, and meddles in peoples private lives.
After his surprise landslide victory in the June presidential elections, Mr. Rowhani, himself a cleric, has been repeating his electoral promises of more freedom and moderation in a series of speeches.
While many in Iran are wary of political promises and point to the existence of a deep state that makes polices behind the scenes, Mr. Rowhanis continued retreat from the confrontational policies of the departing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is being taken by many as a sign that some changes may be under way.
Mr. Rowhani, speaking at the Interior Ministry, blamed extremists and radicals for many of Irans troubles, saying that in hundreds of cases their actions had hurt the relationship between the Iranian people and those in power.
The remark was a clear attack on Mr. Ahmadinejad and his former supporters, a conservative alliance of hard-line clerics and Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Many in Iran accuse that faction of turning the country into a tightly controlled security state that has imposed a strict interpretation of Islam on the country. During Mr. Ahmadinejads presidency, Iranian hard-liners jailed hundreds of dissidents, journalists and activists and closed numerous newspapers and Web sites. They have also greatly increased the presence of security forces on the streets, and they tightly control the Internet.
Mr. Rowhani made it clear that he rejected such policies, saying that an Islamic society is not monolithic. We must accept various trends and tastes, he said. It is not possible for one taste to rule in a free and large society.
He warned hard-liners that Iran needed tolerance in order to achieve progress. Danger is when God forbid one group considers itself equal to Islam, equal to the revolution, equal to the supreme leader, he said of the hard-liners, often called the traditionalists. They introduce the others as being against all this. All problems originate from this point.
Mr. Rowhanis attacks on the traditionalists have astonished Iranians. Many in the country assumed the traditionalists had quietly taken hold of power during the past decade, ousting reformists and other groups calling for change. But it remains to be seen whether Mr. Rowhani can bring about real changes in peoples lives.
It will be hard, for example, for Mr. Rowhani to turn around Irans sanctions-ridden economy without an agreement of some sort with the United States on Irans nuclear program, and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last word on that matter. But talking of freedoms will at least raise hopes for Irans sprawling urban middle classes.
At the same time it is unclear how much space Mr. Rowhani will actually be given by Irans other centers of power: the judiciary, the armed forces and the alliance of hard-line clerics and commanders. For now, Ayatollah Khamenei has called upon all forces to fully support Mr. Rowhani.
It is not clear how much cooperation Mr. Rowhani can expect. On Sunday, the state newspaper Kayhan, a mouthpiece of the hard-liners, said Mr. Rowhani was a hard-liner himself and urged him not to pick any reformist politicians for his cabinet.
Mr. Rowhani said he was consulting with many candidates to form a cabinet based on skills rather than on ideology, and he criticized those trying to influence him through the news media, saying, Such measures will not bring anything but the peoples tiredness.
In a separate interview with the youth magazine Chelcheragh, Mr. Rowhani said that the filtering of Web sites a common practice in Iran was a political act by some people, and he called such measure senseless. What news havent we heard because of this over the past years, he said. This only creates a big wall of mistrust between the government and the people.
Social media Web sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked by the Iranian Ministry of Telecommunications on the orders of the National Council for Cyberspace, which is headed by Mr. Ahmadinejad. After his inauguration next month, Mr. Rowhani will lead the council. The opening of the Internet will be one of his first tests, analysts say.
