As anti-US posters are removed in Tehran, Rouhani's US overtures still dividing the country
Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Some anti-American posters have been removed from Tehran streets to show the West that Iran is serious about cooperation following friendly talks between President Rouhani and his US counterpart Barack Obama.
The posters, which were put up a few days before the 34th anniversary of the US hostage crisis in Tehran during Khomeini's revolution, were removed by the Tehran municipality. A municipal spokesman, Hadi Ayyazi, said the posters were put up across Tehran without any official authorization.
The offending prints questioned US honesty in nuclear talks. One of them, bearing the words "American honesty," shows US and Iranian negotiators sitting at a table and facing each other, the American wearing a jacket and tie but with army pants and boots underneath.
Ehsan Mohammad-Hassani, head of the Oj adverting agency, which made the posters, said that they did not reflect hostility towards US-Iranian nuclear talks.
The decision to pull down anti-US posters triggered a debate on the slogans chanted during official ceremonies. To date, 'Death to America' remains Iran's top political slogan, but many Iranians want it gone so as not to affect the resumption of relations between the two countries.
In fact, just three months into his mandate as president, Ayatollah Hassan Rouhani has signalled his intentions to change Iran's relations with its critics, especially the United States.
After 34 years of hostility, the Iranian president and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, spoke on the phone on 27 September, breaking the impasse that has existed since 1979.
Direct talks between the two leaders raised hopes in Iran for, among other things, a reduction in economic sanctions and a significant change in nuclear negotiations.
Rouhani and his entourage face however strong domestic opposition, which is trying to thwart his overtures every way it can.
On 15 August, Iran's parliament rejected three of his 18 ministerial candidates, too reformist to the liking of most lawmakers.
More recently, Rouhani presented new faces. Yesterday, the conservative-dominated parliament approved two names for his moderate cabinet: Ali Asghar Fani at Education and Reza Faraji Dana at Science, Research and Technology However, lawmakers rejected Reza Salehi Amiri, one of the best-known pro-reform political leaders slated to become minister of Sport and Youth.
His role in the 2009 green wave demonstrations that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election sank his appointment.
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