Monday, November 24, 2014

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With No Immediate Prospect of Sanctions Relief for Iranians, Support for ... - New York Times





TEHRAN — A year ago Iranians danced in the streets after they elected President Hassan Rouhani, mainly because he promised to get devastating sanctions lifted by starting negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.


On Monday, hours after a deadline for those talks set 12 months ago had been extended by 7 months without any clear result, Iranian state television played a prerecorded interview with the president, but Mehdi Mohammadi, a philosophy student who voted for Mr. Rouhani, did not bother to watch. He “could already guess,” he said, what the president would say.


“The negotiations are the only way, everything has gotten better and the country will become even more glorious in the future. But I no longer believe him,” said Mr. Mohammadi, who is thinking of leaving Iran. In the background, Mr. Rouhani promised victory in the nuclear talks and a bright future for the Iranian nation.



As Mr. Mohammadi’s reaction underscored, the enthusiasm for such promises is growing thinner and thinner, many of his supporters and analysts say, especially since Mr. Rouhani has in the eyes of many failed to deliver on other promises of more freedoms and improving the economy. He has instead doubled down on making a nuclear deal, which puts him in a politically dangerous position.





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“The people will have to endure yet another seven months of indecision and hesitation, there will be continued economic pressure on their shoulders,” said Mojgan Faraji, a journalist who in the past has supported Mr. Rouhani. “It is a failure for the government that they have not been able to finalize the deal.”


While many of his supporters continue to hope for a deal, they increasingly suspect that whatever such an agreement might be, it may not lead to the huge changes they are hoping for. Many of them have grown passive, some cynical.


Those who stood by Mr. Rouhani during his campaign now say that the president has been making too many promises and that it is hurting his credibility.


“He has made too many promises in economic and social affairs, but he has failed to honor them. His insistence that the sanctions would be lifted now only prove to be another failure,” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political analyst who had long supported the government. “I don’t understand why he continuously raises expectations.”


From the beginning, a positive future for Iran has been one of the main messages of the Rouhani government


And his government has scored some successes, particularly with the economy, at least compared with his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Inflation has dropped to 25 percent from 42 percent a year ago while the currency has been stable after a long period of decline.


“Critics should realize that we now manage the country with prudence and wisdom,” said Saeed Laylaz, an economist close to the government. “We are ready and hopeful for the future, but everything needs time.”


Mr. Rouhani’s political opponents, a coterie of hard-line clerics and Revolutionary Guards commanders, accuse Mr. Rouhani of planning to “sell out” the country, part of a growing new narrative against him, analysts say.


To many, it is clear that the coming seven months, until the new nuclear deadline set for June 30, will determine Mr. Rouhani’s political fate. “At best he will lose the next elections if there is no good deal,” Mr. Ghorbanpour said. “But it could be much worse.”



A version of this article appears in print on November 25, 2014, on page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: With No Immediate Prospect of Sanctions Relief for Iranians, Support for President Slips.










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