September 3, 2021
It is now a month since President Hassan Rohani left the presidential palace, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has still not appointed him to a new position.
In the case of former presidents, Khamenehi routinely appointed them as members of the Expediency Council almost immediately after their terms ended.
Former President Mohammad Khatami is the exception, as, according to his aides, he was offered the job in 2005, but asked to be excused to take care of “some personal matters.”
The Reformist daily Etemad reported August 31 that, while Rohani was an Expediency Council member for eight years by virtue of being president, his last appearance at the council was in January 2017. Since then, he has not been seen at any of the council’s monthly sessions.
Etemad wrote that rumors in political circles in Tehran said Rohani was expected to be appointed as chairman of the Expediency Council.
Rohani has not been seen in public since his presence in President Ebrahim Raisi’s inauguration ceremony in early August. Many in Iran’s political circles doubt he would return to the forefront of politics in Tehran.