Iran's President Hassan Rouhani Was Elected to Engage the West

To date Rouhani is off to a reasonable start. The ball is now in Rouhani’s court to convince hard-line skeptics in the West that he can fully deliver on his election promises. Pay no attention to the constant carping of Saudi King Abdullah who has never impressed me as having the best interest of Americans in mind. Businessweek reports:

Rouhani’s challenge since his election has been to strike a balance between delivering on campaign pledges, including greater freedoms for the Iranian people, and avoiding the appearance of compromising Iran’s security. That would offer ammunition to politicians opposed to rapprochement with the U.S.

Under the interim deal, Iran must improve cooperation with United Nations monitors, commit to eliminate its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent levels and halt advanced centrifuge installation, the White House said in a statement. Iran also won’t commission its Arak heavy water reactor, which, if it became operational, could produce plutonium and give the country a second path to nuclear weapons. The country would be rewarded with as much as $7 billion in sanctions relief.

Some 800 Iranians massed at the airport in the capital, Tehran, to welcome Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his team of negotiators returning from Switzerland, the Tehran-based Shargh newspaper reported. The crowd, consisting mostly of young people, chanted Iran’s national hymn and slogans including, “The ambassador of peace has come,” as they waited for his arrival.