Israel wary of Iran’s new president
The world shouldn’t expect a change from Iran because it has elected a self-declared moderate as president, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed.
Reacting to the Islamic Republic’s choice of Hassan Rowhani, who has said that he will follow a “path of moderation”, Netanyahu said: “It must be remembered that the Iranian ruler, at the outset, disqualified candidates who did not fit his extremist outlook.”
He warned against the international community becoming “caught up in wishes and be[ing] tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program”, and said regarding the significance of the election result: “Let us not delude ourselves.”
Netanyahu argued that Rowhani is not, in real terms, a moderate, adding that even if he were, his ability to veer Iran away from irresponsibility on nuclear matters would be limited. “In any case, the ruler of Iran is the Supreme Leader, not the president, and it is he who determines nuclear policy,” he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister said that only harsh treatment by the international community will curb the Iranian nuclear threat, commenting: “Fifteen years ago, the election of another president, also considered a moderate by the West, led to no change in these aggressive policies.
“Over the last 20 years, the only thing that has led to a temporary freeze in the Iranian nuclear program was Iran’s concern over aggressive policy against it in 2003.”
Netanyahu’s reaction was markedly different from that of Israel’s President Shimon Peres, who told a foreign journalist: “He said he will not go for these extreme policies. I am not sure he specified his policies. But it will be better, I am sure, and that is why the people voted for him.”
The Israeli media was deeply split on the significance of the election. The left-leaning Haaretz said that while Tehran is not likely to simply pull the plug on its nuclear program, real dialogue may be possible. “If until now Western diplomats felt they were banging their heads against a fortified wall and facing a stream of belligerent and threatening rhetoric that turned Iran into a real danger, diplomacy may now have a better chance,” argued the paper’s editorial.
By contrast, the right-wing Israel Hayom views the election of Rowhani as a PR coup for the regime and, as far as Tehran’s policy is concerned, an irrelevance. “Iran’s ugly face for the past eight years – president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – will now be replaced with a new promising figure that flashes a pleasant, reassuring smile,” argued columnist Boaz Bismuth. “Khamenei could not have chosen a better façade.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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