Iran’s President Rouhani looks for economic and political gains from Russia trip
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Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani will travel to Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Rouhani’s office said on Friday that Rouhani will head a high-ranking political and economic delegation to “discuss leading bilateral, regional and international issues“. Officials will sign agreements for cooperation in legal and judicial sectors, roads and urban development, technology and communications, energy, and sports.
Without referring directly to issues such as the involvement of the two countries in the Syrian crisis, a Presidential aide said talks will also include “ways to promote regional stability and security and the fight against terrorism”.
Beyond the Syrian conflict, in which both countries are essential supporters of the Assad regime, Rouhani is facing the ongoing challenge for Iran’s economic recovery and his effort for re-election in May.
The President and his Government have been targeted for criticism over the past week, including by the Supreme Leader, who has upheld his “Resistance Economy” — a notion of self-sufficiency that he has proclaimed since 2010 — and chided officials for not achieving enough to revive production and investment.
Rouhani tried to ease the situation on Wednesday with a letter to the Supreme Leader, expressing his appreciation for Khamenei’s “helpful” statements and saying that the Supreme Leader’s “continued support can serve as the main coordinating factor for all organizations and branches”.
The President said the Government’s “belief” in the Resistance Economy doctrine has brought “an incredible growth in domestic production, the surpassing of non-oil exports over important, and an unprecedented increase in employment”.
Conservatives and hardliners have yet to agree a primary challenger for the May election.
White House Waters Down Trump’s Nowruz Message to Iranian People
White House officials, such as chief strategist Steve Bannon, watered down Donald Trump’s message to the Iranian people for their New Year, according to Administration sources
Hardliners tried to kill the five-paragraph message. When this failed, they stripped it of references to engaging with the Iranian Government or a future in which Iran and the US might peacefully coexist.
The sections had been approved by the National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, but Bannon “gutted the most ridiculous material”, said a White House official.
