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Iran hard-liners renew calls for Rouhani’s head

Extremists among the opponents of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are calling for his impeachment and even execution after he suggested rapprochement with the United States could happen.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends the inaugural session of the new parliament in Tehran on May 27, 2020, following February elections. - The 11th legislature since the Islamic revolution of 1979 opened as the country's economy, which has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus, gradually returns to normal. Rouhani, who is in the final year of his second and final term, called on MPs, collectively and individually, to place the "national interest above special interests", "party interests" or "constitu
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends the inaugural session of the new parliament in Tehran on May 27, 2020, following February elections. — AFP via Getty Images

“We should make peace when the right time has come,” said Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani last week in a historical reference to Islam's second Shiite leader Imam Hassan, who clinched a peace agreement with his enemies in the seventh century.

Perhaps Rouhani did not anticipate the tremendous backlash from his opponents, who accused the moderate president of exploiting and distorting Imam Hassan’s story to justify his willingness for negotiations with the United States.

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