BICOM

The surprise victory of Hassan Rowhani in Friday’s Iranian presidential election has drawn a range of responses from Israeli political leaders.

Rowhani, who has worked at the heart of Iran’s theocratic regime was one of eight candidates hand-picked by the hard-line clerical Guardian Council, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.  However, Rowhani challenged some of the Iranian leadership’s policies during televised debates and was publicly backed by high-profile figures considered reformists.

Speaking at yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Rowhani’s election saying, “We are not deluding ourselves” highlighting that candidates were excluded “who were not in line with his [Ayatollah Khamenei] extreme worldview.” Netanyahu warned that Rowhani had previously referred to Israel as the “great Zionist Satan” and cautioned “The international community must not become caught up in wishful thinking and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program.”

However, President Shimon Peres focused on the popular Iranian vote, commenting “More than half of Iranians, in their own way, in my judgment, protested against an impossible leadership.” Opposition leader and Labour Party head Shelly Yachimovich expressed a degree of optimism, saying “The new Iranian president can certainly not be suspected of being a Zionist and he is subordinate to [Ayatollah] Khamenei, but he is better than the alternatives in Iran.”Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni commented cautiously, “The test will be that of action.”

Meanwhile, Iranian-born Kadima Party leader Shaul Mofaz, said “It will take months to judge where Rohani is going.” Mofaz criticised Netanyahu’s assessment saying “He needs to act responsibly with proper judgment and not come out with statements so fast.” Meretz leader Zahava Galon accused the Prime Minister of politically-motivated scaremongering, commenting “Netanyahu uses the Iranian threat whenever he wants to distract the public from the country’s real problems. Rohani’s election forces the prime minister to find new political spin.”