What Rouhani did at the first 3 years in power

EghtesadOnline: While trying to win the hearts and votes of the Iranian nation, during his presidential campaign, even the most optimistic people could not imagine that he would be so much successful in meeting his promises.

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04 August 2016

On Aug 3, 2013, Hassan Rouhani took the helm of the Iranian presidency and became Iran's seventh president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and began his four-year mandate promising change, moderation, reaching out to the world, transparency, urging world powers to use the language of respect instead of imposing sanctions on Iran, reports IRNA.

Describing himself as the representative of all Iranian people and not only those who voted for him in the election, he said: 'People want change, want to live better lives, to have dignity as well as stable life. They also want to recapture their deserving position among nations.'

CLINCHING NUCLEAR DEAL

Now after three years of his presidency, many of his promises have come true, including the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1, which many consider it as his most significant achievement.

On July 14, 2015, Iranian negotiators led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany signed Iran’s nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) following two and a half years of intensive talks.

The deal was implemented on January 16, under which all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the UN Security Council and the US had to be lifted. Iran, in return, was expected to put some limitations on its nuclear activities.

This is while the US failure to fulfill its commitments has prevented the Iranians from fully benefiting from the nuclear deal and Washington is lacking of seriousness is the main stumbling block in implementing the JCPOA.

In another indication of fulfilling its presidential mottos, Iran’s inflation rate eased into single digits for the first time in a quarter century following the lifting of sanctions against Tehran.

On June 25, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that the country’s inflation rate dropped to 9.7 percent in the 12-month period leading to the Iranian calendar month of Khordad (June 20).

Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said on June 21 that the annual inflation rate in the country decreased from 10.2 percent in the Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (April 20-May 20) to 9.5 percent at the end of Khordad (May 21-June 20).

Nobakht, who is the head of the Management and Planning Organization of Iran, said the inflation rate has been declining over the past three years, adding, “The fall of the annual inflation rate and its [decline] a single digit was a big success.”

In the end of his economic promises to the nation, President Rouhani has vowed to bring about a five-percent growth rate by the yearend which would also be seen as a great achievement.

PAYING OFF DEBTS TO IMF

Rouhani government faced huge international debts when he came to power. The debts came as a big hurdle to the new government while former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had enormous oil revenues and was not expected to end his tenure with that much debt to international bodies.

The government, in a cabinet session on July 20, commissioned the CBI to pay off Iran's debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), urging the country's monetary authority to pay some 9.883 trillion rials to IMF from its internal resources.

MAJLIS ELECTIONS

In Parliamentary elections held nationwide on February 26, the supporters of President Rouhani won a remarkable number of seats in the Parliament which was indicative of people's trust in the policies pursued by the president in the domestic and internal affairs.

These candidates had said they would defend the government's achievements in reaching a nuclear deal with the world powers and would help the president further fulfill his promises to the nation.

In the capital Tehran all the names in the thirty-person list of the supporters of President Rouhani came out of the ballot boxes to show the full support of Tehrani people for the president.

2017 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Less than a year to Iran's 2017 Presidential elections, Rouhani's opponents are pressing to persuade people that the president has not been successful in meeting his promises.

They even argue that the nuclear deal that was supposed to bring about prosperity for the Iranian nation and create more jobs has failed to do so.

They accuse the president and his foreign minister of being cheated by the world powers and sometimes say that it was a mistake to engage in nuclear talks.

They continue to blame the president and the Iranian negotiators while they well know that President Rouhani had the mandate from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to negotiate with world powers and they delivered regular reports to the Leader in the course of the talks.

Despite all the objections, it seems that the opponents have no candidate to be strong enough to create a challenge for President Rouhani in next year elections and he can be elected president easily for a second consecutive term.