An opponent (right) of Iranian President Hassan Rowhani holds his shoes as he chases the president’s car during his arrival at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. RIGHT: Rowhani waves to supporters as his motorcade leaves the airport.
TEHRAN: A shoe was thrown at Iranian President Hassan Rowhani’s motorcade yesterday as he arrived home to a mixed reception after his historic call with US President Barack Obama, witnesses reported.
Iranian newspapers hailed the first contact with a US president in more than three decades as the ending of a long taboo. The Etemad newspaper carried a front-page photomontage of Rowhani and Obama side by side. “Historic contact on way home,” read its banner headline.
But Rowhani’s 15-minute conversation with the leader of a country long derided as the “Great Satan” was too much for some hardliners. Nearly 60 gathered outside Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” as his motorcade passed.
They were outnumbered by 200 to 300 supporters of the president chanting “Thank you Rowhani”, who were separated from the protesters by police. The shoe was thrown as Rowhani stood up through the sunroof of his car to acknowledge the crowd. It failed to hit its target.
The airport protest contrasted with the plaudits Rowhani received from the press for the historic call. Rowhani told reporters at the airport the call had been Obama’s initiative.
“We were going to the airport, when I was informed that the White House had called the cellphone of our ambassador to the UN,” his office quoted him as saying. “I was informed President Obama wanted to speak to me for a few minutes.” “The world caught unawares,” crowed reformist daily Arman. “International media in shock over the telephone call.”
The call was approved by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a top lawmaker. “Rowhani had obtained the necessary authorisation from the establishment for contact with Obama,” Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, spokesman for the influential foreign policy commission, said. Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said he had pulled off a diplomatic coup by speaking to Obama.
Many newspapers carried front-page photographs of a smiling Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry at nuclear talks in New York. Zarif said he hoped for a deal within a year. But Zarif’s Western counterparts made clear at the meeting that an agreement will require big concessions from Iran. They include the suspension of all enrichment of uranium beyond the level required to fuel nuclear power plants, and the closure of Iran’s underground enrichment facility near Qom. Back home after the international fanfare, Rowhani now has to persuade regime sceptics that these are concessions worth making. AFP
