DESPERATELY SEARCHING FOR A MODERATE IN TEHERAN….THE IRANIAN UNICORN
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578549751455158588.html
The search for a “moderate” Iranian leader has beguiled every American President since the revolution of 1979. No such creature has ever been found. But the hunt for the unicorn seems destined to begin again with the breathless reporting that Iranians have elected 64-year-old cleric Hassan Rohani as their next president.
Mr. Rohani surprised most Iran-watchers by winning more than 50% of the vote among eight candidates and defeating the favorites of supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini. The vote no doubt reflects the desire of the Iranian people for change after eight years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They deserve credit for showing up after the regime stole the 2009 election and put that year’s moderate candidates under house arrest.
But no one should expect much change in Iranian policy under Mr. Rohani, especially not on national security. Our colleague Sohrab Ahmari explains nearby the electoral limits that Mr. Khameini imposed on this election, as well as Mr. Rohani’s record as a tribune of the clerical revolution. He is not Thomas Jefferson in a robe, and most important for the world’s security he supports Iran’s nuclear-weapons program.
Ultimate power in Iran rests in any case with Mr. Khamenei and his fellow clerics, who are backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has expanded its control over business and other parts of society in recent decades. Iran today is best understood as a Shiite fascist state with a democratic electoral veneer and ambitions to dominate the region.
The White House rather too effusively praised the election results, and no doubt it will ramp up its beseeching diplomacy to strike a nuclear deal with the Rohani government. President Obama is desperate to find some agreement to avoid having to launch a military strike. Expect Mr. Rohani to go along for the talks, but mainly to ease Western sanctions and buy more nuclear time.
A version of this article appeared June 17, 2013, on page A16 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: An Iranian Unicorn.
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