Rouhani's election

The recent presidential election in Iran was keenly watched by many interested outsiders as the Iranians participated enthusiastically to make their choice between two main moderate and hard-line candidates. The people turned out in unusually large numbers-nearly 70 percent of the electorate - making the election officials to extend the polling time by several hours. In the event, the incumbent reformist President Hassan Rouhani won a decisive victory receiving 57 percent of the votes while his conservative challenger, Ebrahim Raisi, ended up getting 38.5 percent of the total votes cast. It may be recalled that Rouhani had presented himself as a candidate for change in the last election, promising to break Iran's international isolation, and delivered on that promise too. He is credited for convincing the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in striking the historic nuclear deal with major Western powers, paving the way for lifting of international sanctions on the country.
During the election campaign, Raisi blamed Rouhani for economic difficulties faced by the disadvantaged sections of society and called for a tougher line towards the West, whilst the latter offered greater social and political freedoms as well as international engagement. As the result shows, the people have strongly supported President Rouhani's openness agenda. A lot has changed, however, since president Obama pushed for a policy of accommodation rather than confrontation through a negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue. His successor, Donald Trump, has repeatedly been assailing Iran, accusing it of destabilising the Middle East by supporting the Assad regime in Syria. He reiterated his belligerent rhetoric at the Muslim leaders' conference in Riyadh - held a day after the announcement of Rouhani's victory - saying "from Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen, Iran funds and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region". That surely was music to the ears of Iran's regional rivals who had organised the conference as a preparatory move for militarily countering Iran's influence.
Six years of war in Syria and nearly three years of the Yemen conflict have only caused unspeakable death and destruction. More war can create more chaos, leading to unforeseen consequences for all involved. Sanity suggests both Washington and Riyadh stop the talk of war and try and settle issues of dispute through negotiations. It is worth noting that this February President Rouhani had visited Oman and Kuwait to find ways to reduce tensions with the Gulf Co-operation Countries. That obviously did not help. Now that he has won a fresh mandate to try further engagement with the outside world, it would be in the interest of peace and stability of the Middle East to give a positive response to his overtures, and douse rather than further inflame the fires of ongoing conflicts that have consumed hundreds of thousands of lives and rendered millions refugees in neighbouring countries or as unwelcome migrants in the West.