Iranians may turn to ‘military president’ as nuclear deal collapses

Ever since Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election, Iranian hard-liners have been jubilant about his pledges to kill the nuclear deal — the signature achievement of moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Now, Trump has finally handed a precious gift to his foes in Tehran. On May 8, after months of threats, Trump announced a US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He had warned his European allies that if they don’t “fix” the deal, he would “nix” it.

In 2013, Iranians were fed up with the two-term presidency of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, under whom the nuclear file had turned into a crisis. Amid these conditions, the late Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s nomination in the presidential election that year was welcomed by many, as he was known to both friends and foes as someone who could improve the bitter relationship between Iran and the West. As Rafsanjani was barred from running by the Guardian Council, he quickly threw his weight behind his protege, Rouhani, who pledged to voters that he would solve the nuclear crisis. Throughout the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany), Republicans in the US Congress and hard-liners in the Iranian parliament almost constantly sought to torpedo the talks.