When the people of Iran celebrated President Hassan Rouhani's election as president, they were celebrating hope and expectations of a democratizing process and a sustainable economic development, along with the lifting of sanctions gradually and finally.
Rouhani does not want to betray the people who elected him and who gave him a mandate for change. When he went to address the United Nations, it was not a “charm campaign” nor was he “a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.” He was eager to persuade, unlike Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose entire speech at the United Nations was a series of insults to Rouhani, trying to dismantle whatever positive perception Rouhani has achieved. Netanyahu sought not only to reverse, but to mobilize, those who might have been persuaded, repeating ad infinitum the negative narrative that has characterized his provocative discourse.
