Free Republic

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at Israel in vitriolic terms on Wednesday, referring to Israel as a “festering Zionist tumor.”Rouhani, who has been championed by Western media as a moderate reformer who could change Iran’s extremist ways, appears to be adopting a violent tone similar to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has advocated for the complete destruction of Israel in recent days.“Today, this festering Zionist tumor has opened once again and has turned the land of olives into destruction and blood and littered the land with the body parts of Palestinian children,” Rouhani was quoted as saying in a...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani boasted on Twitter that the United States and other world powers effectively "surrendered" to Tehran with the newly struck nuclear deal. "Our relationship w/ the world is based on Iranian nation's interests. In #Geneva agreement world powers surrendered to Iranian nation's will," a tweet from the Iranian leader's account said on Tuesday. The brash statement, which is sure to rile those in Congress pressing for additional sanctions, comes just days after all sides of the negotiations announced the details for implementing the six-month deal. The agreement calls for Iran to start eliminating its stockpile of highly...

With the death of Nelson Mandela, some people are wondering about a possible encounter between the American and Iranian presidents at memorial events in South Africa this week—especially after a failed attempt by U.S. officials to arrange one at the U.N. last fall. As of Sunday, Iran had not yet formally confirmed whether President Hasan Rouhani plans to travel to South Africa, but that did not stop one Iranian newspaper from warning that the funeral events could be a “trap” that would bring him face to face with the leader of the “great satan.” “Satan lays a trap, this time...

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged his successor, Hassan Rouhani, to a debate intended to defend his eight-year record in office, reports the British Telegraph. In his first political intervention since stepping down last August, the former president expressed outrage at a recent televised speech in which Rouhani took aim at Ahmadinejad’s stewardship of Iran’s economy. Rouhani said that his predecessor had presided over “unprecedented stagflation” in an address made to mark his own administration's first 100 days at the helm. During Ahmadinejad’s presidency, Iran’s currency plummeted to an all-time low as the country faced a growing shortage of...

In a speech marking his 100th day in office, Iran’s president vowed Tuesday to continue enriching uranium, despite the historic Geneva deal with the United States and other world powers to halt its nuclear program for six months, The Hill reported on Tuesday. In a series of tweets, President Hassan Rouhani boasted that Iran got the best deal; the loosening of limited sanctions and the continuation of its nuclear enrichment program. …

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday urged the world to insist on tough negotiations that ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Speaking to NBC News a day after his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu cautioned against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's charm offensive, which he described as a strategy carried out to woo the West at the behest of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. "[The Iranian people] are governed not by Rouhani. They're governed by Ayatollah Khamenei. He heads a cult. That cult is wild in its ambitions and its aggression," Netanyahu said. The prime...

“Have a nice day”—this is how Iranian President Hassan Rohani concluded his phone conversation with US President Barack Obama, the first direct contact between leaders of the two nations in over three decades. A message on Rohani’s Twitter page, which has since been deleted, stated that Obama answered in Farsi by saying “khodahafez” to indicate goodbye, whose literal meaning is “may God be with you.” The tweet was one of several Rohani posted after the historic phone conversation. He noted that Obama had phoned him and told him he was positive that relations between Iran and the US would have...

Heading into a historic meeting on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities, Iran’s new president called on Israel on Thursday to join an international treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons, chiding the Jewish state for being the only Mideast nation that has failed to do so. President Hassan Rouhani addressed a United Nations forum on nuclear disarmament, speaking as chair of an organization of mostly developing countries that has long demanded that Israel sign the landmark 1979 Non-Proliferation Treaty. …

CNN said it did not mistranslate Iranian President Hassan Rowhani’s comments about the Holocaust to make him sound more moderate during a Tuesday interview with Christiane Amanpour, contradicting a report that ran in Iran’s state-run news agency. According to the government-run Fars News service, CNN mistranslated Rowhani’s statements and downplayed his suggestion that the Holocaust was not an historical fact. CNN told the Washington Free Beacon that the translator who worked on the interview was actually hired by the Iranian government. According to the Fars News translation of Rowhani’s CNN interview, the Iranian president did not use the term “Holocaust,”...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday called the Holocaust a “reprehensible” crime committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people, but said it was up to historians to determine the scale of what happened. … But Rouhani went on to take a swipe against Iran’s archfoe Israel, which was founded after World War Two as a Jewish state in part of what had been British-mandate Palestine. “This does not mean that on the other hand you can say ‘Nazis committed crimes against a group, now therefore they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it,’” he said. “This...

Iran rejected an offer for President Obama to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday at the United Nations, the White House said Tuesday. Iranian diplomats told the U.S. that such a meeting was “too complicated for Iranians to do at this point,” according to a senior administration official. … Suzanne Maloney, an Iran researcher at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, said a meeting posed significant risk for Rouhani, a new leader grappling with the anti-Americanism that remains a core tenant of Iran’s political culture. “I don't think the moment is yet ripe for a handshake or any...

Israel’s prime minister on Tuesday voiced deep skepticism about the new Iranian president’s outreach to the West, saying the world “should not be fooled” and must keep up the pressure on Tehran’s suspect nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued his warning in response to Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s address to the General Assembly. In his speech, the Iranian leader said his nation is ready to restart stalled negotiations over its nuclear program. He also called for moderation and rejected violence. Israeli officials believe Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb and fear that Rouhani’s gestures to the West...

Iran’s new defense minister is behind past terror attacks against Americans and Israelis, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported on Monday. The Islamic Republic’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has appointed Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan as the new defense minister. Dehgan, according to a report by Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira, a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was responsible for attacks against U.S. and Israeli forces in Lebanon in the 1980s. …

With a possible Iranian nuclear breakthrough looming despite sanctions and covert action by the West, U.S. officials are hoping a more moderate incoming president will offer a unique opportunity for an accord on the issue. Hassan Rowhani will be inaugurated Sunday, ending the contentious eight-year presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. U.S. officials are already watching as he assembles his foreign policy team, hoping to get an idea on what direction nuclear policy will take. The concerns are heightened by a study released this week by the respected Institute for Science and International Security, saying that by mid-2014, Iran is expected to...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded Friday to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks in which he was cited as saying that Israel “has been a wound on the body of the Islamic world for years and should be removed.” … “Rouhani’s true face has been revealed earlier than expected,” said the Prime Minister. … Referring to western commentators who have referred to Rouhani as a “moderate” who could depart from the aggressive foreign policy of his predecessor, the PM cited his recent remarks as a wakeup call to the world. …

The emergence of the cleric Hassan Rouhani, following the recent presidential elections in Iran, seemingly ticked all of the boxes. The Western media crowed that this new “moderate” president would be open to dialogue on stopping the nuclear program and would be a harbinger of positive change for the oppressed masses in Iran, improving basic human rights, freedom of speech, freeing all political prisoners and halting public executions. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. Public executions, which were temporarily halted during the presidential elections, have begun again with a vengeance. More than 75 prisoners, including six women, have...

Remember the enemedia's depiction of this jihadist as a "moderate"? I warned readers immediately about the cleric in charge of a nuclear arsenal. Hasan Rowhani is a disciple of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the vicious tyrant of Tehran. He was a senior national security advisor to Khomeini during the brutal war with Iraq that left a million people dead. He served as a top national security advisor to the regime in the 1990s, as well. Iran under Rowhani is a slaughterhouse. And where is the enemedia on this story -- the media that told us what a wonderful moderate he...

Iran has confirmed it is prepared to halt its enrichment of 20-percent uranium, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported on the ministry website Tuesday, June 18. He urged Western nations to reciprocate by lifting sanctions. DEBKAfile: It was not clear whether this was a temporary suspension, an absolute halt – or a dodge for getting sanctions eased to enable the incoming Iranian president Hassan Rouhaini get to grips with his top priority, his country’s dire economic straits. Lavrov explained persuasively in his message: “For the first time in many years, there are encouraging signs in the process of settlement of...

Iran’s newly elected president showcased his reform-leaning image Monday by promising a “path of moderation” that includes greater openness on Tehran’s nuclear program and overtures to Washington. He also made clear where he draws the line: No halt to uranium enrichment and no direct U.S. dialogue without a pledge to stay out of Iranian affairs. Hasan Rowhani’s first post-victory news conference was a study in what may make his presidency tick. Rowhani may be hailed as a force for change, but he also appears to carry a deep and self-protective streak of pragmatism. He knows he can only push his...

Iran’s new president will find a partner in the United States if he comes clean on the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear program, a senior White House official said Sunday, according to the AFP news agency. Hassan Rowhani, who is considered a “moderate”, was elected as Iran’s new president Friday, ending eight years of a conservative grip on the office marked by tension with the West over Tehran’s atomic drive. “If he is interested in… mending Iran’s relations with the rest of the world, there's an opportunity to do that,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was quoted as having...