Newly-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s (unverified) Twitter account on Wednesday wished the Jewish people a happy new year.
“As the sun is about to set here in Tehran, I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah,” reads the tweet, referring to the Jewish celebration.
Iran is not commonly known for its positive stance towards the Jewish people.
 |
| The Picture attached to the tweet (Source: Twitter) |
Rouhani’s predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was known for calling for the Holocaust a myth and gleefully predicted the annihilation of Israel.
“Not even under the monarchy do we remember such a message,” Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-born scholar who heads the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, told Middle-East news agency al-Monitor, referring to Iran’s former ruling Pahlavi dynasty.
Although Iranian Jews number fewer than 9,000 people in Iran’s population of 77 million, largely Shiite Muslim population, according to AFP, Iran’s Jewish minority is the largest in the Middle East after Israel.
While the tweet has been acknowledged by many news outlets, it has not yet been verified directly by Rouhani, although presidential spokesmen have not denied its validity.
Rouhani’s Twitter account is most likely run by the media office of Rouhani’s presidential campaign team. Iran-watchers suggest that the president may be keeping the account semi-official to deflect criticism by internal hard-liners while at the same time showing good faith toward the West, said the U.S.-based daily.
Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Whether or not the twitter account can be linked directly to the Iranian president, who has previously said that he wishes to ease tensions with the West, the message is certainly well-timed.
Comments
Post a Comment