Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Rouhani and Zarif Will Not Attend Mandela Funeral


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani or his foreign minister, Javad Zarif, will not represent Iran in the memorial service of South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon and former president Nelson Mandela.

The decision by Rouhani and Zarif not to attend Mandela’s memorial services where more than 100 heads of states and governments are participating came as a surprise, especially for a government on a charm offensive. Rouhani’s decision could be his attempt to avoid being seen with President Obama or be “trapped” into shaking hands with him. Hardline daily Kayhan said yesterday that there are forces that want to push Rouhani into the arms of the “chief of the Great Satan.”

Rouhani’s now-famous 15-minute phone conversation with Obama at the end of his UNGA visit to New York last September created troubles for him among Iranian hardliners and was criticized by Khamenei.

Photo credit: ibtimes

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

how ridicoluos is iran internal affair
if two politiker shaking hand does not mean at all they are friends.

Anonymous said...

What is with this Iranian/Arab/Turk culture of "Oghde dâshtan"!

The last thing you want is to have politicians in leading positions of a country displaying that kind of wretched personality trait.

reader said...

How graceful of the “chief of the Great Satan” to shake hand with Raul Castro of Cuba and Robert Mugabi of Zimbabwe –and- how disgraceful of the “Honourable editor of Kayhan” to suppress a nation’s desire to join the family of nations.

Nader Uskowi said...

Rouhani/Zarif team’s decision not to attend Mabida’s memorial service is their first major retreat when under attack by the hard right. This is not the way to run a government of openness to the world; being afraid that they might have to shake hands with Obama? How could they then institute major changes in policy if they cannot feel safe to shake hands within a diplomatic context? I am afraid that this retreat will not bode well for battles ahead if they want to be true to their campaign promises.

Anonymous said...

Talking of foreign leaders who will not attend Mandela's memorial.

Bibi Cancels Trip to Mandela Memorial Over Cost, Israeli Settler Leads Israeli Delegation http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/12/09/bibi-cancels-trip-to-mandela-memorial-over-cost-israeli-settler-leads-israeli-delegation/

Anonymous said...

"A charm offensive or diplomacy of smiles" are not a reasoning for the Iranian politics, like it has been fetished by this website's propaganda and wishes.

The South Africa and Mandela, have enough had opportunites to solidify its ties and support with the Islamic Republic, and they haven't pursued significantly those possibilities...

So a presence at the funeral, is somehow not the point of significance, where many "elected clowns" have come to play their own farce.

I have watched the presence of the President Ahmadinejad at the H. Chavez's funeral, and President personality and his sincere gestures underlined his and other guests' statesmanships, in an absence of those elected "world clowns"...........

A-F

Nader Uskowi said...

More than 100 heads of state attended today's memorial service. Notable absentees were Netanyahu and Peres of Israel (it would have been so awkward for a regime that in 70s and 80s was a major supporter of Apartheid) and Rouhani or Zarif (afraid of shaking hands with Obama! They should have asked for advice from the Cuban leader.)

This is not the way to run the country's diplomacy. Rouhani and Zarif fumbled the ball here. Hope this is not the start of a trend to back off in the face of threats from the hard right. They were elected to end eight disastrous years of Ahmadinejad.

Anonymous said...

"Rouhani’s decision could be his attempt to avoid being seen with President Obama or be “trapped” into shaking hands with him"
Do you actually have any proof to back up this assertion?

Anonymous said...

Nader UskowiDecember 10, 2013 at 7:27 PM
If this is actually the case,and so far I`ve seen nothing to back up this claim,then it simply illustrates that all politics is local and that Rouhani cannot afford to antagonize/alienate more of the hardliners especially over something as trivial as a possible handshake at a funeral.Personally I think the whole premise of this story is absurd,if rouhani had wanted to attend and avoid obama then I have no doubt that the south africans could have arranged it so that the two would never have come in contact,failing that just send a lower level diplomat

Nader Uskowi said...

Anon 8:36 PM,

Pushed into the arms of the chief of Great Satan is Kayhan's not mine. Do you need any stronger proof that the hard right pressured Rouhani not to attend the memorial service for the fear of the shake hand? The problem is Rouhani retreated.

Nader Uskowi said...

Anon 8:45 PM,

Would you then offer an alternative narrative? If it was not retreat in the face of hard right pressure, why wouldn't Rouhani, the head of the government of openness to the world, go to the funeral? What happened to the charm offensive? I checked the stories on his activity on that day, and couldn't find any reason for his refusal to go.

Anonymous said...

Absence of Netanyahu and Peres was excused by the "lack of funds" to fund their trip..
However, if the Zionists from the US assign the most funds to israel, they or Obama should find funds for them....to play their farce with other clowns.

Cuba's presence at the funeral, have legitimate justification, due to its enormous help and ideological ties with Mandela.

Shaking hands - MEANS NOTHING, as was considered and confirmed by the American officials.

The Islamic Republic's officials have a different morality and serious meanings, they are not the clowns...

A-F

Anonymous said...

Nader UskowiDecember 10, 2013 at 8:58 PM
Its up to you to prove your assertion,its not up to me to come up with alternatives,the fact that you can offer not a shred of proof to back your assertion speaks volumes

Anonymous said...

AnonymousDecember 10, 2013 at 7:54 PM
Agreed,well said,the idea that they did not go because of the risk of a handshake is frankly absurd