This Article is originally published in Al-Monitor
The phone conversation between US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, during the final hours of Rouhani’s visit to New York, was unexpected enough to dominate the media spheres of both Iran and the United States. The reactions of the Iranian people have been significant and mostly positive. Even the Principlists and conservatives, whose ideology is not similar to that of Rouhani, have not reacted negatively to Rouhani’s diplomacy or that of his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in New York.
Before Rouhani’s trip to New York, to participate in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had granted permission for positive signals and “heroic flexibility.” This resulted in the majority of the Principlists, conservatives and even the members, or sepah,of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) supporting — or at least not opposing — the government’s actions. Although a small number of extremists attacked Rouhani upon his return at Mehrabad Airport, these people are so isolated that even the Principlists criticize them.
The jokes being exchanged in the streets of Tehran, on the morning of Sept. 28, show that the residents of the capital are awaiting the continuation of the process which started in New York. “I will open a McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Tehran,” joked Tehran resident Arash, 27. “This time next year, I will fly directly to New York, and I will buy an iPhone 6 from the Apple store,” tweeted Hussein Allayee, a computer engineer, considering the possibility of the political relationship between Iran and the United States being restored.The markets of Iran, however, reacted more conservatively compared to the previous times. Tehran’s stock exchange continued a paced growth for the past few days: the dollar market initially dropped, then went up and finally returned to the price it was on Sept. 26.Iranians in general reacted very quickly, became emotional really fast and just as rapidly lost their interest and got bored. This positive atmosphere — which is the result of the discussions between the foreign ministers, and the presidents, of Iran and the Unites States — will soon be replaced with demands for tangible results. However, any informed political observant knows that solving the problems and misunderstandings between Iran and the United States requires long negotiations and discussions.
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“Iran” IS the extremist.
And Obummer and Kerry are yellow dog traitors. Where is the Mossad when you need them?