Moderate cleric Rowhani declared new Iran president

Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani was declared Iran's new president on Saturday, ending eight years of conservative grip on the top office in a victory cheered in the streets and cautiously welcomed by world powers.

Tens of thousands of jubilant Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, toting pictures of 64-year-old Rohani and chanting pro-reform slogans as news of his victory spread.

Rowhani was declared outright winner with 50.68 percent of votes cast in Friday's vote.

In his first statement after his win was confirmed, he called on world powers to treat Iran with respect and recognise its rights, an apparent allusion to its controversial nuclear policy.

"This is a victory of intelligence, of moderation, of progress... over extremism," Rowhani said.

"A new opportunity has been created by this great epic, and the nations who tout democracy and open dialogue should speak to the Iranian people with respect and recognise the rights of the Islamic republic," he said.

Then they will "hear an appropriate response," he added.

Rowhani is a former top nuclear negotiator who has championed more constructive engagement with world powers.

He won outright against five conservative candidates with 18.6 million votes, Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said.

That was enough to ensure there would be no run-off against the runner-up, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who came a distant second with 6.07 million votes.

Iran's current nuclear negotiator with world powers, Saeed Jalili, trailed in third place with 3.17 million votes.

Najjar said 36.7 million people, or 72.7 per cent of the electorate, had voted.

Outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was constitutionally barred from standing again, having served two consecutive terms.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website hailed Rowhani on his victory.

"Congratulations to the people and to president-elect Hojatoleslam Hassan Rowhani," Khamenei's Internet site leader.ir reported.

"I urge everyone to help the president-elect and his colleagues in the government, as he is the president of the whole nation."

Western countries gave Rowhani's win a cautious welcome.

The United States said it was prepared to engage Iran directly over its disputed nuclear programme following his win.

The White House said such engagement would be aimed at reaching a "diplomatic solution that will fully address the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear programme."

The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is aimed at building nuclear weapons, but Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes like generating energy.

Rowhani has previously vowed to restore diplomatic ties with the US, which cut relations in the aftermath of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy by Islamist students.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iran to play a "constructive role" in regional and international affairs, his office said in a message congratulating Rowhani and welcoming the reported high turnout.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement she was committed to working with Rohani to find a "swift diplomatic solution" on finding a solution to the disputed nuclear programme.

Ashton serves as chief negotiator for the six world powers seeking to check Iran's controversial nuclear ambitions.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris was "ready to work" with Rowhani, with the country's nuclear programme and its involvement in the Syrian conflict high on the agenda.

Britain urged Rowhani to set the Islamic republic "on a different course".

But Israel said it was Khamenei who decides on nuclear policy, not the president.

"After the election, Iran will continue to be judged by its acts, in the nuclear field as well as that of terrorism," a foreign ministry statement said.

The Jewish state, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has not ruled out a military strike to prevent Iran developing an atomic bomb.

The key opposition Syrian National Coalition called on Rowhani to review support for Syria's President Bashar Al Assad.

Rowhani inherits an economy that has been badly hit by EU and US sanctions targeting the key oil and banking sectors because of its nuclear programme.

Friday's vote was the first since the disputed 2009 re-election of Ahmadinejad triggered massive street protests by supporters of his rivals, that were crushed in a deadly crackdown.

In 2003, when Rowhani was top nuclear negotiator under Khatami, the republic agreed to suspend its controversial enrichment of uranium.
That programme resumed two years later when Ahmadinejad was first elected.

In campaigning, Rowhani pledged to move to ease the sanctions, which have hit hard. Inflation is more than 30 percent, the rial has lost nearly 70 percent of its value and unemployment is rising.

Rowhani is a representative of Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security body, and was its secretary for 16 years until 2005.

He has played up his relations with the supreme leader, who has the final say on all key issues, including the nuclear programme.

The 2009 protests that followed Ahmadinejad's re-election led to the eventual house arrest of opposition candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and the widespread suppression of reformists.

Former president Mohammad Khatami's endorsement of Rohani for president gave birth to an online movement, with social networkers urging those favoring abstention not to waste their votes.

Iran's next leader: Who is Hasan Rowhani?

Just weeks after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory in 2005, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani stepped down from the post after quarrelsome meetings with the new president.

The decision cemented Rowhani's reputation as a moderate who rejected Ahmadinejad's combative approach in world affairs in favor of the more nuanced philosophy of Ahmadinejad's leading political foe, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani was rejected by Iran's election guardians from Friday's presidential ballot. But for many reformists and liberals in Iran, the 64-year-old Rowhani is somewhat of a mirror image of the elder Rafsanjani by reflecting his outlook that Iran can maintain its nuclear programme and ease tensions with the West at the same time.

Rowhani held a wide lead in early vote counting Saturday.

"Rafsanjani was really the only choice to re-energise reformists," said Rasool Nafisi, an Iranian affairs analyst at Strayer University in Virginia.

"Rowhani only got their support because he is seen as Rafsanjani's man and a vote for Rowhani was a vote for Rafsanjani."

This deep connection between the two men could give a potential Rohani presidency a dual nature: Rowhani as the public face and Rafsanjani behind the scenes as its powerful godfather and protector.

Although all key policies such the nuclear program are directed by the ruling clerics, the alliance with Rafsanjani may give Rowhani more latitude to put his stamp on Iran's negotiation tactics with world powers after four rounds of talks since last year have failed to make any significant headway.

At campaign rallies, Rowhani has pledged to seek "constructive interaction with the world" that includes efforts to ease Western concerns about Iran's programme and lift punishing international sanctions that have pummeled the economy.

The West and its allies fear Iran could be moving toward development of a nuclear weapon.

Iranian officials, including Rowhani, insist that the country only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and medical applications.

"We won't let the past eight years be continued," Rohani told a cheering crowd last week in a clear reference to Ahmadinejad's back-to-back terms.

"They brought sanctions for the country. Yet, they are proud of it. I'll pursue a policy of reconciliation and peace. We will also reconcile with the world." 

Early rise

Rowhani  — the only cleric in the six-candidate presidential field — started religious studies at a teenager. He soon established himself as an outspoken opponent of the Western-backed shah, traveling frequently for anti-monarchy speeches and sermons that caught the attention of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the eventual leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rowhani later graduated from Tehran University with a law degree in 1972.

He then went abroad to Glasgow Caledonian University for a master's degree in legal affairs, according to his campaign biography.

While outside Iran, the stirrings of the Islamic Revolution were growing stronger. Rowhani returned to Iran and stepped up his denunciations of the shah, but fled the country to avoid arrest. He then joined up with Khomeini, who was in self-exile in France, and the rest of his inner circle, including Rafsanjani.

After the revolution, Rowhani rose quickly with various roles, including reorganising the military, serving in the new parliament and overseeing the state broadcaster, which became a valued mouthpiece for Khomeini.

He strengthened his ties to Rafsanjani during the 1980-88 war with Iraq and, later, as Rafsanjani's top national security adviser during his 1989-97 terms. 

Nuclear background

Rowhani continued the role with reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who also appointed Rowhani as the country's first nuclear envoy.

Rowhani took over the nuclear portfolio in 2003, a year after Iran's 20-year-old nuclear programme was revealed. Iran later temporarily suspended all uranium enrichment-related activities to avoid possible sanctions from the UN Security Council.

Ahmadinejad strongly opposed any such concessions and deal-making. He also had carry-over friction with Rowhani , who backed his mentor Rafsanjani against Ahmadinejad in the 2005 race.

Rowhani resigned as nuclear negotiator and head of the Supreme National Security Council after a few testy postelection meetings with Ahmadinejad.

In his campaign stops, Rohani had been careful not to directly confront authorities over crackdowns since Ahmadinejad's disputed 2009 election. But Rowhani was seen as clearly siding with Ahmadinejad's reform-minded opponent four years ago, Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was placed under house arrest in early 2011 along with fellow opposition candidate Mahdi Karroubi. 

Colour purple

Taking a page from Mousavi's color-branded campaign, Rowhani adopted purple for his run for the presidency. It also brought some backlash, including several supporters arrested at a rally that brought cries from the crowd for the release of Mousavi and Karroubi.

At Rowhani's final campaign event earlier this week, chants rang out: "Love live reforms."

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