A Couple Dances Amid Celebrations in Mashhad on Saturday Night

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After Hassan Rouhani’s surprise first-round victory in the Presidential election, the long preparation for a change of Government began on Sunday.

Rouhani does not take office until 3 August, and then the far-from-small matter of Pariamentary approval of his Ministers is likely to take more weeks. So the negotiations over how much power he will have within the Iranian system are likely to be protracted.

The process started yesterday with Rouhani’s public-relations appearances with figures such as the Supreme Leader and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, as other groups such as the Revolutionary Guards pledged their co-operation.

On the surface, all was harmony, but highest levels of the regime continued to put out the message that Rouhani will be deferring to Ayatollah Khamenei and the system. The almost-embarrassed belittling of Rouhani’s victory on Saturday by State media, with the mantra being the high voter turnout, was followed on Sunday by subtle but clear reference to the Supreme Leader’s authority.

Meanwhile, State media have moved to less dramatic declarations of the Islamic Republic’s greatness and prosperity — Press TV headlines with a “Resistance Arts Festival” and Armenia-Iran electricity deals — while denouncing foreign interventions in Syria.

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Footage From Rouhani’s Press Conference

The following videos show footage from President-elect Hassan Rouhani’s press conference in Tehran on Monday.

Press TV provide a full video of the event here.

This video, from the end of the event, shows a member of the audience shouting slogans in support of detained politician Mir Hossein Mousavi, who remains under house arrest. The audience member shouts “Mousavi must be here!”.

In this video, a reporter from the reformist newspaper Etemaad asks Rouhani when Mousavi will be released. Rouhani says that some issues need to be resolved but that he is sure this will happen in time.

This video shows a blind reporter asking Rouhani if he will fire managers from Ahmadinejad’s administration. The reporter says that he supports Ahmadinejad. Rouhani says he will retain those who are good managers, but those who have not bought a ticket cannot ride the bus.

Cartoons: ‘Where Is My Vote?’And Balance Of Power

Roozonline, an independent and reformist website, published these two cartoons in reaction to the Presidential election results.

The first cartoon, published Monday, shows Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holding a placard reading “Where Is My Vote?”, above a headline that asks Where Is Arash Sadeghi? Sadeghi is student activist and member of former Presidential candidate Mousavi’s campaign, arrested on July 9, 2009. Sadeghi is on hunger strike, according to HRANA.

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The second cartoon, published Sunday, shows the purported new balance of power in Iran — Green (reformists) and Purple (the Rouhani campaign color) versus Red (principlists).

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Rouhani On Direct Talks With US

During Monday’s press conference, a reporter from NBC asked President-elect Hassan Rouhani about the issue of whether Iran would engage in direct talks with the US.

Rouhani’s reply:

You’re asking a very difficult question. The issue of US – Iran relations is very difficult and complex. It is an old wound, and we must consider how to heal it.

Rouhani said that Iran did not want “more tension” with Washington, but direct talks with the US should be dependent on “certain conditions” and should also take place only on an equal footing and with mutual respect and interests.

The first condition, according to Rouhani, is that the US must state that it would not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs:

The US would also need to declare that it recognized Iran’s nuclear rights, and end “unilateral and bullying policies” — in other words, sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program, Rouhani said.

The President-elect concluded:

Hassan Rouhani Press Conference — Key Points

President-elect Hassan Rouhani gave a press conference in Tehran on Monday, to which international and well as local reporters were invited.

Some key points addressed:

Rouhani says his new government plans to address economic issues:

Foreign policy with regional powers should be based on “mutual respect”, Rouhani says:

Rouhani also promised to have improve relations with Saudi Arabia.

Regarding sanctions, Rouhani said that these were “brutal” and that Iranians had done nothing to deserve them.

Rouhani’s position on Syria is no different from that of the previous government; the President-elect says that he opposes “foreign intervention” and that the Syrian people must be allowed to choose their own government:

Rouhani was asked what he will you do to tackle inflation in the short term?

His answer: The basic solution is to activate production, increase production and funnel investments in the right direction, direct liquidity to production units. We have sufficient investment, but these need to be led in the right direction. The banks and financial institutions need to be able to provide the right sort of capital, so there needs to be reforms in banks, they need incentives. Production is not just industry and agriculture but also tourism which can also generate jobs.

France 24 asked: will you suspend U enrichment as you did before to start talks with international community?

Rouhani answers: We are in a new and special situation now. There are many more conference building measures that we can take. In 2005 we came to a final agreement as to how to win international trust.

“Enrichment will continue,” he emphasized.

Rouhani said that it could have been possible to reach an agreement with the international community over the nuclear issue in 2005, but the problem was that Britain was under pressure from the US and could not agree, even though France and Germany did agree.

“This will be a government of hope,” Rouhani said. “All legal and rightful demands of all groups and factions will be considered. It is my duty to implement the basic law.”

Conservative Tasnim news asked Rouhani: If the P5+1 made a proposal to suspend enrichment, would you approve that?

Rouhani said: The detailed questions need to be discussed at the right time. Basically, negotiations with P5+1 will hopefully be more dynamic. We believe that that the nuclear issue will have solutions only through talks, not sanctions and threats. We need dialog and mutual confidence. We will use past experiences. The basic rights of Iranians will be considered and government will work to gradually remove these brutal sanctions.

Rouhani was asked: What do you think about Western decision to arm Syrian insurgency?

His answer: We believe that the international interventions need to stop, Syrian people need elections and until that election the current government should be considered the legitimate government of the people.

Rouhani answers question on future government from a visually impaired reporter: Thank you for expressing your feelings and emotions. The future government will be an efficient government based on meritocracy, so all those individuals who have been active in the past 8 years as executives, I will humbly ask them to help us. But if anyone has come on the bus without a ticket then they need to buy a ticket! It is only with fraternity and unity we can develop the nation. We have great people — there are exceptions here and there — but if people have questions about us we should not turn them into enemies.

Rouhani adds: Outside Iran, we do have enemies but we need to try out utmost to make them understand that they need to bow down to the Iranian nation and not show them the dagger. There was so much excitement before the elections, especially among young people, and the enemy saw this power.

The BBC ask Rouhani: Given that one of major FP plan is constructive interaction with international community, what plans do you have to better ties with US and UK

Rouhani says: With all countries, if we have any problems with countries we will try to remove them. So the foundation of our interactions will be mutual respect and based on mutual interests, and also through wisdom and logic we will be able to remove the problems we have with other countries including Britain.

Government Defeated In Tehran City Council Elections

The government has been defeated in the Tehran City Council elections, with outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s sister Parvin Ahmadinejad not bothering to vote, Fars News reports

None of the candidates on the Dar Emtedad Mehr list — including Parvin — won the popular vote, Fars said.

New York Times correspondent Thomas Erdbrink reports that reformists plan to elect former President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s son, Mohsen, as new mayor:

In response to a question about whether he planned to appoint reformist politician and former Presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref as his vice-president, Rouhani answered:

Ahmadinejad Summoned To Court

Outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been summoned to Branch 76 of the Tehran Court on the basis of a complaint, BBC Persian reports.

Citing the Government Information website dolat.ir, BBC Persian said that the court summons did not specify the subject of the allegations against the President. The nature of the complaint and the reason for it are unclear, the site also noted.

It said the case arises from “a complaint lodged by [parliamentary speaker] Mr Ali Larijani” as well as by a parliamentary commission.

Pictures: Filmmakers, Including Jafar Panahi, At Aref’s Home After Elections

Aref posted pictures of a post-election meeting at his home, which included a group of filmmakers, among them Jafar Panahi (on the left of the first picture):

Aref: I Will Form Political Party To Expand Reformist Discourse

Reformist politician Mohammad-Reza Aref, who dropped out of the Presidential race in favor of the moderate Hassan Rouhani, announced Sunday night that he planned to create a new party to “expand the reformist discourse”:

Aref also noted via Twitter that many people had said they were going to boycott the elections by not voting, but that Aref’s work had encouraged them to vote:

US Officials Put Out Their Spin on Nukes: “Don’t Expect Much”

American officials put out their reaction to the Rouhani victory, in particular, the prospects for discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The only problem is that long-time outlet David Sanger of The New York Times mis-hears the message: “US Seems Eager for Nuclear Talks With Iran’s New Leader“.

Instead, the text in the article makes clear that Washington is setting up for another round of talks — possibly the final one — and blame on Tehran if American terms are not met:

While the election of the new president, Hassan Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator who is considered a moderate compared with the other candidates, was greeted by some administration officials as the best of all likely outcomes, they said it did not change the fact that only the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would make the final decision about any concessions to the West.

Even so, they said they wanted to test Mr. Rowhani quickly, noting that although he argued for a moderate tone in dealing with the United States and its allies when he was a negotiator, he also boasted in 2006 that Iran had used a previous suspension of nuclear enrichment to make major strides in building its nuclear infrastructure.

Video: IRGC, Police, Army Congratulate Rouhani

Footage from Iranian State TV showing the IRGC, Police and Army congratulating the President-elect, Hassan Rouhani.

Qalibaf: “We Will Also Work With Rouhani”

Tehran mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf said Monday morning that “everyone must help the elected government”.

“The season of work and empathy has begun,” Qalibaf told a meeting of his supporters and campaign team members.

Qalibaf told his supporters that they should thank God for realizing the political epic, as called for by the Supreme Leader, in its best and most glorious form.

The outgoing mayor said that his task, and that of his supporters, was to begin working with camaraderie in order to honor Iran.

Jalili: “We Will Work With Rouhani”

Lead nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili has said that he plans to support the new administration and President-elect Hassan Rouhani.

In a ceremony following the election results, Jalili said that “our work has only just begun”.

Jalili said that the elections were a “great victory” for the Iranian people, who came out to support the Islamic Republic’s system of velayat-e faqih: “just as we saw during the Holy Defense [the Iran-Iraq War”].

During the campaigning, Jalili’s campaign team harshly criticized the performance of Rouhani during his tenure as chief nuclear negotiator, accusing him of making concessions to the West.

Jalili’s campaign team posted this video of the post-election results ceremony.