Hassan Rouhani Quotes
We are not seeking... and looking for war with any nations. We are seeking peace and stability among all the nations in the region.
Rouhani, Hassan. Interview with Ann Curry. NBC News, NBCUniversal, 18 Sept. 2013.
There were many who believed that a thriving growth economy depended in part on wartime military spending levels. The issue is still controversial.
He was referring to the national budget where so much money was spent on the military that there was little left over to finance new initiatives.
Hassan Rouhani is an Iranian politician serving as the seventh and current President of Iran since 3 August 2013. He was also a lawyer, academic, former diplomat and Islamic cleric. He has been a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts since 1999, member of the Expediency Council since 1991, and a member of the Supreme National Security Council since 1989. Rouhani was deputy speaker of the fourth and fifth terms of the Parliament of Iran (Majlis) and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005. In the latter capacity, he was the country's top negotiator with the EU three, UK, France, and Germany, on nuclear technology in Iran, and has also served as a Shia mujtahid (a senior cleric), and economic trade negotiator.:138 He has expressed official support for upholding the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. In 2013, he appointed former industries minister Eshaq Jahangiri as his first vice-president.