The new Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, seeks to establish a dialogue with the West, but has no intention to give up the nuclear program, Andrey Areshev, researcher at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian Region, told ArmInfo.
Areshev said that Hassan Rouhani is a true representative of the Iranian elite, an experienced diplomat and negotiator, direct participant in the Iranian-Iraqi war. The word "reformist" applied in the Western and some Russian publications to define him is conventional. Areshev thinks that the representatives of the Iranian elite may apply one or another tactics to achieve certain goals, but their strategy is similar. "The strategy is one - to strengthen the international positions of the country and to ensure its security. I think that the dialogue with the West is possible. Moreover, the
Iranian leaders, regardless of their image, have repeatedly suggested cooperating with the West on the key problems. The brightest example is the idea of the Dialogue Among Civilizations introduced by Mohammad Khatami. That dialogue failed due to the fault of the West, because the West needs a weak and split Iran. No one in power - be it a reformist, radical or conservative - can agree with such an approach of the West.
The expert also pointed out that the rhetoric against Israel might change. He thinks that the Iranian leaders are unlikely to threaten to wipe the Jewish state off the map. "Notwithstanding such threats of ex-President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran took no practical steps in this direction. But these aggressive statements aggravated the relations with not only the Jewish state, but with the United States. This was a very serious emotional component in the dialogue between Iran and the West, and Tehran did not benefit from that. Not only Rouhani, but also other candidates criticized Ahmadinejad for
such rhetoric.
To recall, Hassan Rouhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, won the June 14 elections in Iran by obtaining 52.3% of votes.