Rouhani’s New Year

THE NEW YORK TIMES

ROGER COHEN

LONDON — Is Hassan Rouhani, the new Iranian president, a game-changer? Initial indications leave open that possibility. Ignoring it would be foolish.

Gone, or tamed, is the inflammatory language, the anti-Western invective, the delusional accusations, the Holocaust denial and the Israel baiting that turned his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, into the villain from central casting. You do not have to be seduced by Rouhani’s apparent recent tweet wishing Jews a good Rosh Hashana — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “not impressed” — to perceive a significant change.

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