Iranian President Hassan Rohani (standing) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Revolution, November 15, 2019 in Tehran. – AY-COLLECTION / SIPA
Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Thursday he wanted to avoid war after Tehran and Washington appeared on the brink of direct military confrontation in early January, the second time in less than a year. With the approach of the legislative elections of February 21, announced as difficult for the moderate camp of the president, and in a context of growing tensions between Tehran and Westerners on the Iranian nuclear program, he also said he wanted to continue to dialogue with the world on this issue.
Iran has obtained its “military compensation”
“The government is working daily to prevent a military confrontation or war,” said Hassan Rohani in a speech to the Central Bank. According to him, the strikes on January 8 against American military targets in Iraq enabled his country to obtain the “military compensation” wanted for the death of Soleimani.
The will to appease is understandable especially in light of the pressure from the street. The tension between the United States andIran appears to have subsided in the wake of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Boeing tragedy, which Iran accidentally shot down, killing 176 people. But in Iran, the air disaster sparked outrage. Hassan Rohani thus implicitly recognized the existence of a crisis of confidence in the authorities.
From Saturday to Wednesday, anti-power rallies were held every day. Security forces were deployed to the capital on Thursday evening to deal with possible new protests. Some 50 riot police, on motorbikes and carrying batons, were posted at a major crossroads in northern Tehran. Concentrated especially in the capital, events The last few days, however, have appeared on a scale far less than the national protest wave in November against the rise in the price of gasoline, suppressed at the cost of a crackdown that has killed at least 300 people, according to Amnesty International.
Supreme Leader Friday Speech
Apparently trying to regain control of the political plan, Hassan Rohani pleaded Wednesday for better governance and more pluralism. Thursday’s speech therefore also went in this direction. Above all, he made the remarks before an expected speech by Iran’s supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is to preside over Tehran’s great weekly Muslim prayer on Friday for the first time since 2012.
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