Iranians elected moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani as their new president last Friday shocking not only Western powers, but also the world, as his election indicates the potential for progressive talks with nations like the United States, according to TIME.
Iran's Mullah politicians are generally conservative, even the reformist types, but Rowhani's win represents the potential for better relationships with Western powers, if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's most supreme leader, were to grant such an opportunity, reported the publication.
Rowhani was able to gather more than 50 percent of the nation's votes, clocking in more votes than all five of the other candidates put together.
During his campaign, Rowhani ran on a platform to boost the economy by opening talks with the west, and called for greater attention to nuclear programs. He also pushed for the release of political prisoners, including former Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, whose recent defeat sparked a massive uprising and harsh government suppression.
"This victory is the victory of wisdom, moderation and awareness over fanaticism, and bad behavior," Rowhani said in his first speech on Sunday, according to the magazine.
According to TIME's Swampland, Rowhani was called a "doctor" in most circles, to honor his efforts to free many Iranian students who left their studies to take up the fight in the Iranian revolution.
But Tuesday Rowhani may face some global opposition after he voiced his support for controversial Syrian president Bashar Al Assad. And while his obedience to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been deemed absolute, Rowhani's focus on Iran's nuclear programs raised some concerns as rumors surfaced that in 2004, he distracted the West as Iran was quietly advancing nuclear materials.
"We will go ahead with confidence-building and will endeavor to build up our [nuclear] technical capability," Rowhani reportedly said at a news conference at the time. "This is our diplomacy: to proceed [in] both directions simultaneously."
In 2006 Rowhani wrote a letter to TIME criticizing then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that a combination of uncompromising talks with the west and "a nuclear weaponized Iran destabilizes the region, prompts a regional arms races, and wastes the [scarce] resources of the region."
The magazine also reports that as part of his agenda as president, Rowhani would like to sit down with the west to reach a situation where other world leaders would accept Iran's right to a publicly run nuclear program.
"The Iranian people... will be happy to build trust and repair relations with the United States," Rowani said in his speech, according to TIME. "Both nations need to think more about the future and try to sit down and find solutions to past issues and rectify things."
