Hassan Rowhani to be Iran’s seventh president
Tehran: cleric Hassan Rowhani on Saturday meets Iran’s supreme leader to be endorsed as the country’s seventh president. The meeting came a day after he made controversial comments about the Islamic republic’s arch-foe Israel.
Ahmadinejad’s eight years in office were also marked by showdowns with Western powers over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and economic suffering because of international sanctions and mismanagement.
Rowhani’s remarks about Israel showed that Iran’s new president will also be no stranger to controversy on the international stage.
Netanyahu swiftly denounced Iran’s president-elect, based on his remarks as initially reported. “Even if the Iranians work to deny these comments, this is what the man thinks and reflects the regime’s plans,” he said.
Rowhani on Friday also pledged allegiance to the Palestinian cause and rejection of Israel as a state, an unfaltering cornerstone of Iranian foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed shah.
