US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s provocative speech on 22 July that attacked Iran’s leadership and policies, and prompted a brief but hostile exchange between President Hassan Rouhani and President Donald Trump about the threat of war, has provided an opportunity for Rouhani to seize the initiative and sell himself and the Iranian government, domestically and internationally, as genuinely moderate and committed to reformist policies.
If Rouhani grasps the challenge, two credibility tests will apply: are those policies truly reformist and, if so, will he have the support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the military to implement them?
Pompeo’s speech was wide-ranging and blunt. He painted the expected canvas—accusing Iran’s theocratic and military leadership of mafia-like corruption, of sponsoring terrorism regionally and in Europe, of regional destabilisation, and of seeking to destroy Israel—and implied that Iran wasn’t genuinely committed to the nuclear deal. He also accused the leadership of human rights abuses (citing multiple political detainees as evidence) and suppression of religious minorities.
Read the article by Ian Dudgeon in The Strategist.