Hassan Rouhani's 'Twitter Message to Jews' at Centre of Iran Power Struggle

Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, appeared to be at the centre of a regime power struggle thanks to a happy new year Twitter message to the world's Jews.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani

(TEHRAN The Independent) - The greeting on a Twitter account believed to be run with Mr Rouhani's blessing caused a stir on social media by announcing: "As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah [the Jewish new year]."

It was accompanied by a picture of an Iranian Jew praying at a Tehran synagogue.

The message – tweeted in English on Wednesday evening – was unprecedented from an Iranian leader and in striking contrast to the tone of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Rouhani's predecessor, who antagonised Jews by denying the Holocaust and frequently predicting Israel's demise.

Reflecting the sensitivity of such sentiments within a theological regime that denies Israel's right to exist, Fars News – an outlet close to the powerful Revolutionary Guards – cast doubt on the message's veracity by quoting one of the president's aides as distancing him from it while denying that he had a Twitter account.

The aide, Mohammad Reza Sadegh said social media accounts set up by Mr Rouhani's supporters during last June's presidential election campaign remained active but had no official status.

Article by Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent for The Independent