Iran's President Announces New Policy of 'Constructive Engagement' with Outside World

Iran's president seeks to mend relations with the outside world - but speech sparks angry reaction from Israel for what it 'misses out'

Read the Telegraph article here | Szu Ping Chan in Davos and Colin Freeman | Thursday, January 23, 2014

Iran's President Rouhani Hailed as Country's Answer to Obama

Iran's historic nuclear deal has seen its new president, Hassan Rouhani, riding high after 100 days in office

Read the Telegraph article here | Colin Freeman, and Naeim Karimi | Saturday, November 30, 2013

Iran Opens Doors to Tourists as Rouhani Fosters Thaw in Relations with the West

THE GUARDIAN: New atmosphere under reformist president sees visa rules eased with Chinese visitors a priority for sanctions-hit country

With its ancient ruins, glittering mosques and spectacular landscapes, Iran is home to some of the world's cultural treasures, but ever since the 1979 revolution, these have largely remained unseen by international tourists. In recent years, the country's most high-profile visitors have been nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Now, however, the new administration of Hassan Rouhani is taking steps to open up Iran to foreigners in an effort to improve its international image after the gloomy years under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – and to bring in much-needed foreign currency to an economy reeling from years of sanctions.

Mohammad-Ali Najafi, a vice-president and the head of the country's cultural heritage and tourism organisation, said Iran was overhauling its strict immigration rules to ease or abolish visa requirements for most foreign visitors.

"From the next two or three months, I predict that the number of foreign tourists who come to visit Iran as a tourist will greatly increase," said Najafi in a telephone interview from Tehran.

Najafi admitted some senior officials had been concerned at the prospect of allowing large numbers of tourists – especially westerners – in without prior security checks, but said that since Rouhani took office in August Iran's tourism body had eventually secured their support – and government approval. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Friday, October 18, 2013

Hassan Rouhani's New York Diplomacy 'Not Proper' Says Iran's Supreme Leader

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran's Supreme Leader voiced guarded criticism of President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday, saying that some aspects of his diplomacy at the United Nations in New York were “not proper”.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who sits at the apex of Iran’s power structure, said that he supported Mr Rouhani’s overtures to the West, but denounced America for being “untrustworthy”.

Since assuming the presidency in August, Mr Rouhani has made clear his wish to settle the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions within “months not years”. While in New York last month, he offered “peace and friendship” to Americans and spoke by telephone to President Barack Obama for 15 minutes, the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries since Iran’s revolution in 1979.

However, this conversation is believed to explain Ayatollah Khamenei’s criticism. America had offered a meeting between the two presidents, but Mr Rouhani is understood to have lacked the Supreme Leader’s authority to accept. In choosing to speak to Mr Obama by phone instead, Mr Rouhani was implicitly defying the Ayatollah’s instructions. » | David Blair | Saturday, October 05, 2013

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Netanyahu: I'm Prepared to Talk to Rouhani on the Phone

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is prepared to speak with the Iranian president on the telephone, and would consider meeting him, but only to demand that Tehran abandon its nuclear programme.

The Israeli prime minister said in interviews following his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly this week that he did not rule out engaging in diplomatic contact with Hassan Rouhani.

Having told CNN that he would accept a call from the Iranian president, he was then asked by NPR if he would agree to a meeting. “If I’m offered, I’ll consider it,” said Mr Netanyahu.

However, the hawkish Israeli leader reiterated that nothing less than the comprehensive scrapping of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment scheme would be acceptable to his country.

“The reason they insist on enrichment is because they want to maintain the path to nuclear weapons,” he said, dismissing Iran’s claims the programme is directed at civilian energy production.

Mr Netanyahu also poured cold water on hopes that Mr Rouhani, a relative moderate who last week held a landmark phone conversation with President Barack Obama, could achieve significant reform.

“He is a servant of the regime,” said Mr Netanyahu. » | Jon Swaine, New York | Friday, October 04, 2013

Rebuffing Hassan Rouhani Would Be 'Diplomatic Malpractice', John Kerry Says

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: America would be guilty of "diplomatic malpractice" if it rebuffed offers by Hassan Rouhani to seek an agreement over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has said.

Speaking in Tokyo, Mr Kerry said the US had an obligation to respond positively to the olive branch extended by Mr Rouhani, the Iranian president, who has embarked on a charm offensive aimed at achieving rapprochement with the West and ending the decade-long stand- off over his country's uranium enrichment programme.

"It would be diplomatic malpractice of the worst order not to examine every possibility of whether or not you can achieve that before you ask people to take military action and do what you have to do to prevent it," he told reporters. "You have to exhaust the remedies before you ratchet up to a next tier of remedies that may have more dramatic consequences."

Mr Kerry words jarred with the belligerent message of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, who gave a series of interviews on US television warning of the dangers of engaging Mr Rouhani. » | Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, October 03, 2013

'Iran's Rouhani Is Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' – Netanyahu to UN General Assembly (Full Speech)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on its last day.

Hassan Rouhani’s Full Interview with Christiane Amanpour

CNN's Christiane Amanpour's full interview with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Benjamin Netanyahu Flies to US in Bid to Block Iran’s Return to Diplomacy

THE INDEPENDENT: Israeli leader plans to fight ‘the blitz of smiles’ as the US eyes Rouhani talks

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tomorrow try to foil Iran’s moves towards rehabilitation in the international community during a speech at the UN General Assembly aimed at reversing the diplomatic and public opinion gains made by the new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

In remarks late on Saturday before departing for the United States, where he will meet US President Barack Obama later today, Mr Netanyahu signalled that as far as Israel is concerned, nothing has changed but the rhetoric from the years of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who denied the Holocaust and spoke of Israel’s removal. Above all, Mr Netanyahu will stress that Iran is still intent on attaining a nuclear bomb, something Israel views as an existential threat.

“I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and the blitz of smiles. One must speak facts and one must tell the truth,” Mr. Netanyahu said. » | Ben Lynfield | Jerusalem | Sunday, September 29, 2013

Shoe Thrown at Iran President on Return Home after Obama Call

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A shoe was thrown at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's car Saturday as he arrived home to a mixed reception for his historic call with Barack Obama.

Some 75 hardline Islamists chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as Rouhani's motorcade drew out of Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.

Eggs were also hurled at the Iranian president as members of his security team tried to shield him with an umbrella.

The incident comes amid an apparent softening of Iran's stance toward the West including the United States under President Rouhani, which has angered some hardliners in Iran. » | Andrew Marszal, agencies | Saturday, September 28, 2013

Obama Holds Historic Phone Call with Rouhani and Hints at End to Sanctions

THE GUARDIAN: President says discussion with Iranian counterpart showed 'basis for resolution' of dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme


Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani held the first direct talks between American and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exchanging pleasantries in a 15-minute telephone call on Friday that raised the prospect of relief for Tehran from crippling economic sanctions.

Speaking at the White House shortly after the historic call, Obama said his discussion with Rouhani had shown the "basis for resolution" of the dispute over Iran nuclear programme.

The conversation, in which Obama communicated his "deep respect for the Iranian people", capped a week of diplomatic breakthroughs. Rouhani ended a five-day visit to New York for the UN general assembly with a striking offer to work rapidly to defuse tensions with America, and hailed the US as "a great nation" – a dramatic shift in tone for an Iranian leader. » | Dan Roberts in Washington and Julian Borger in New York | Friday, September 27, 2013

Iran’s Leader, Denouncing Holocaust, Stirs Dispute

THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — As he conducts a high-profile good-will visit to New York this week, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, says he is bringing a simple message of peace and friendship. But on Wednesday, Mr. Rouhani set off a political storm here and in Iran, with an acknowledgment and condemnation of the Holocaust that landed him in precisely the kind of tangled dispute he had hoped to avoid.

Mr. Rouhani, in an interview on Tuesday with CNN, described the Holocaust as a “crime that the Nazis committed towards the Jews” and called it “reprehensible and condemnable.” It was a groundbreaking statement, given that his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denied the systematic extermination of Jews during World War II. Mr. Rouhani largely repeated his comments in a meeting with news media executives on Wednesday.

But a semiofficial Iranian news agency accused CNN of fabricating portions of Mr. Rouhani’s interview, saying he had not used the word Holocaust or characterized the Nazi mass murder as “reprehensible.” Mr. Rouhani spoke in Persian; officials at CNN said they used an interpreter provided by the Iranian government for the interview, which was conducted by Christiane Amanpour.

The dispute over his comments reflects the extreme delicacy of the Holocaust as an issue in Iranian-American relations. More broadly, it speaks to the political tightrope Mr. Rouhani is walking, trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the United States that will ease sanctions to please everyday Iranians, without provoking a backlash by hard-liners.

Such careful calculations prompted Mr. Rouhani to eschew a handshake with President Obama at the United Nations General Assembly. After weeks of conciliatory moves, including Iran’s freeing of political prisoners, Iranian and American officials said they believed Mr. Rouhani needed to placate hard-liners in Tehran, who would have bridled at images of an Iranian leader greeting an American president. » | Mark Landler and Thomas Erdbrink | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

'Iran's Threat Propaganda Dangerous for World Security' - Rouhani to UN Assembly 2013 (Full Speech)

Iran poses absolutely no threat to the world President Hassan Rouhani said in his address to the UN General Assembly. At the same time, militarism of "some players" and generalization of western values, he says, poses a true danger for the world security.

Should Obama Meet with Iran's President?

Reaction from Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland

Tone Change: After Decades of Harsh Rhetoric, US - Iran Relations Thaw

Iran's recently elected President has offered to oversee talks between the Syrian government and the opposition. Hassan Rouhani addressed the Western world in an editorial for the Washington Post - calling on countries to focus on the future and not past frosty relations. The apparent readiness of Iran's new leader to engage, has given hope for a thaw in relations with Washington - but that's not an easy goal to achieve. Let's take a look at the tensions between the two in the past decade or so. In light of Iran's current apparent change of tone, RT's Anissa Naouai takes a look at how responsive America is likely to be.

Iran's President Calls for 'Constructive' Dialogue, End to 'Unhealthy' Rivalries

Read the CNN article here | Greg Botelho | Friday, September 20, 2013
WASHINGTON POST: Why Iran seeks constructive engagement: Three months ago, my platform of “prudence and hope” gained a broad, popular mandate. Iranians embraced my approach to domestic and international affairs because they saw it as long overdue. I’m committed to fulfilling my promises to my people, including my pledge to engage in constructive interaction with the world. » | Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran | Thursday, September 19, 2013