Iran's Moderate Moment: The Leader Just Let It Go

Whatever the cause of a centrist takeover after two successive terms of hardliner dominance in Iran, one thing is for sure: the election of Hassan Rouhani as president in 2013 gave a new lease of life to the Islamic Republic, with the guarantee that its foundational structures will remain unchallenged for many years to come. Considerably narrowing the widening state-society gap, however, it has endowed Iran with a normative surge of soft power, ripening the ground for a new way of statecraft that can bring about a whole change of identity for the state. And, this is where Iran’s top leadership can make a bigger and more sustainable difference