atchopesandhatredmixinrouhanisiran.docVIP

Irans President Rouhani Gets The Benefit Of The Doubt, For Now As Iran prepares to mark the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, its not hard to find evidence of its much analyzed devotion to martyrdom, especially around this holiday. Its also not hard to find chants of Death to America. Just drop by the massive Mosalla Imam Khomeini mosque for Friday prayers. The imam, or prayer leader, spoke of ancient beliefs and up-to-the-minute politics, condemning recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman. The crowd of working-class conservatives and military hard-liners responded with full-throated wishes for Americas demise. ii hide captionRouhani (then president-elect), stands in front of a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, during a visit to his shrine just outside Tehran, on June 16, 2013. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP But as the same crowd streamed out of the mosque a short while later, they turned back into individual Iranians, some of whom revealed much more nuanced opinions and a surprising willingness to give their president more time to conduct his diplomatic outreach. Amir Sazagar, a 60-year-old self-described inventor, says the recent nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers pleases Iranians in many ideological camps, and theres a lingering feeling of optimism. People are hopeful about the future, both for the economy and the foreign diplomacy, Sazagar says. Were connecting more these days with other countries, and that makes us feel better. Another worshipper, Adiya Mouradiya, makes it clear that he preferred the previous president, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mouradiya says nothing has really changed with the economy so far and this subzero winter is especially hard. But even so, he takes a surprisingly pragmatic view of President Hassan Rouhanis outreach — even that to the ritually hated America. Look, America is a superpower, he says. So if we fix the relationship with