Washington Watch: Iranian elections worry Netanyahu
PM fears partners in opposition to a nuclear Iran might be seduced by descriptions of president-elect Hassan Rohani as moderate.
By DOUGLAS M. BLOOMFIELD
Binyamin Netanyahu is a worried man. The results of the Iranian presidential election were a deep disappointment, judging by his rhetoric lately. He’s afraid that partners in the no-nukes-for- Iran coalition might be seduced by descriptions of President-elect Hassan Rohani as a moderate.He is reminding everyone that “moderate” is a relative term when it comes to describing Iranian leaders, and Rohani, 64, is one of the Islamic revolution’s founding brothers. He couldn’t have gotten on the ballot unless he passed the supreme leader’s test for ideological purity and revolutionary zeal.Adding to the Israeli leader’s angst was word that the Obama administration – which faces a broad palette of unattractive options – is anxious to take the measure of the new president, who had been his country’s nuclear negotiator a decade ago. Obama’s chief of staff and former national security adviser Dennis McDonough called Rohani’s election “a potentially hopeful sign.”By referring to as Iran’s “so-called election,” Netanyahu appears afraid the coalition will be seduced by the new post-Ahmadinejad tone. Rohani recognized that in his Monday press conference when he noted, “on a global level, our image has changed.”He said he wants to reduce tensions with the United States but stuck to the regime’s old demands that Washington must stop “interfering in Iran’s domestic politics” and respect its nuclear rights. He added that he would not suspend uranium enrichment.During his own years as the chief nuclear negotiator, Rohani later boasted, he was “creating a calm environment” with a temporary freeze on enrichment as a means to stall for time while Iran secretly accelerated other aspects of its nuclear program, which he strongly supports.Obama, facing a fragile economy, a depleted military and a nation wearied by two long, costly and inconclusive wars, has been reluctant to confront the Iranians, who have used the talks to buy time to accelerate their nuclear development.Some in Israel are wondering whether Rohani’s victory – the only relative moderate in a field of conservative clerics – was a sign of real change or just a PR ploy to create a false air of complacency to stall for time and ease the sanctions that have done so much damage to the country’s economy.Ephraim Kam of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies cautions, “The moderate image of the new president could help lessen the international pressure on Iran, and later, perhaps even encourage a deal on the nuclear issue that would not be acceptable to Israel.”Netanyahu’s nervousness is reflected in the Israeli media where many analysts and editorial writers are warning not to confuse personality with policy, and that while Rohani may sound more civil than his predecessor, he will still take orders from the same rabidly anti-American, anti-Israeli supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, who controls the military, security and nuclear apparatus.