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Iran’s President-elect Hassan Rohani is saying all the right things to the 50.71 percent of Iranians who voted for change in mid-June elections: He promised again today to ease censorship and social and Internet restrictions, and to restore “mutual trust” between the people and clergy.

“A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs [and] that limits the lives of the people,” Mr. Rohani told fellow clerics in Tehran.

Rohani said it was “not possible” to attract Iran’s young society with “harsh views,” nor with state television that broadcasts a panda birth in China but ignores protests by unpaid workers. The speech comes after Rohani also vowed to correct the “imbalanced” application of Iran’s Constitution in an interview with a youth magazine.

“The freedom and rights of people have been ignored but those of the rulers have been emphasized,” Rohani told the weekly, Chelcheragh. “Restricting [people’s right] to criticize will only stifle and lead to inefficiency.”

But even as the centrist politician seeks to reassure moderates in Iran, what of the conservative “principlist” and hardline factions that were defeated by Rohani’s shock first-round win?

Still stunned by the defeat of their own five candidates, they are licking their wounds, and warning that Rohani’s new cabinet should not include “seditious” members of the opposition 2009 Green Movement, which would invite chaos and a violent response.

There has been a swift reaction to these warnings, however, evidence that Iran’s post-election debate is signaling a new moderation from both the left and the right. Indeed, while Rohani speaks of civil liberties and “more transparency” in nuclear talks, he also has clear public support from the most powerful in the regime: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard.

“Iranian state and society has no place for radicalism now,” says a political analyst in Tehran who asked not to be named. “The atmosphere in Iran today is more than an alliance, it is kind of accepting a coexistence with each other,” she says. “As for radicals, I believe that the leadership is willing to control them, not only [Khamenei] but principlists [conservatives] who support Rohani are not going to allow radicals to do whatever they like.” Lots more at http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0703/Why-Iran-looks-se
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