Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli caused a stir when he said that President Hassan Rouhani would serve a second term as president. When asked about the administration’s midterm scorecard and how many of his ministry’s plans have become operational, Fazli said, “This administration has not reached midterm yet, it’s only spent a quarter of its duration. Mr. Rouhani is to be president for eight years.”
Fazli is a traditional conservative politician politically aligned with parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. His entrance into the Rouhani administration as interior minister, with one of the main functions being to implement elections, was disappointing to some Reformists, although it helped deepen ties between Rouhani and Larijani and the bodies they lead.