Rohani
Victory May Undermine Support for Israeli Attack on Iran (Bloomberg News)
Iranian
President-elect Hassan Rohani’s vow to improve ties with the world carried him
to a surprise first-round win. It may have also rewound the clock on a
potential military strike against his country over its nuclear program.
-snip-
Rohani’s election offers hope for a renewed diplomatic effort, said Geneive
Abdo, a research fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
“If the rhetoric from Iran changes this gives Obama once again the
opportunity to call for some type of engagement,” she said. “It will completely
de-escalate the sense of urgency for the U.S. to take action on Iran.”
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Rowhani
win is a chance for US to improve Tehran ties (The National, Abu Dhabi)
The
surprise victory of a moderate candidate in Iran’s presidential elections
presents Barack Obama’s administration with its greatest opportunity yet to
engage Tehran over its nuclear programme, analysts said.
-snip-
“It
will give Washington an opportunity to operate on the assumption that this is a
new era in Iran – whether it is or not – and test the waters,” said
Geneive Abdo, an expert with the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.
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Who
is Iran’s new president? Nine things you need to know about Rowhani (NBC News)
Thousands of
joyous Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran on Saturday night after centrist
cleric Hassan Rowhani scored a stunning victory in a closely watched presidential
election, winning 50.7 percent of some 36 million votes cast in a six-way race,
according to the country’s interior ministry.
-snip-
“A reform-minded
president has been elected, but he still has to survive in a system that
existed before the election,” said Geneive Abdo, a fellow at the Stimson Center
and Middle East scholar.
To
read the full story, click here.
Analysis:
Iran Elections Could Be a Game-Changer (Agence France-Presse)
The
election of the moderate Hassan Rowhani as Iran’s new president is a
game-changer which could set a new tone and soothe tensions with the West over
Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, analysts said.
-snip-
Genevieve Abdo,
an Iran expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center think-tank, said there
would be very little change on the nuclear issue or Iran’s support for Syria’s
embattled leader Bashar al-Assad.
“I think that
generally we might see a honeymoon in the beginning, because this historically
has been the way the Iranians operate… But I’m very skeptical that there will
actually be any progress on the nuclear issue and I think on Syria there will
be no change whatsoever.”
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story, click here.