While all previous Iranian presidents have tried to reform Iran's economy, none had the capacity to extract resources from the population, and favourable circumstances needed to enact and sustain economic reforms. Rouhani may have all these. He has already established credibility by fulfilling his most important campaign promise to have sanctions lifted without abandoning the nuclear programme, and he can use this political capital to lead Iran out of its deep-rooted economic woes.

Survey finds President Rouhani's popularity soaring among Iranians, The Guardian, 1 October 2015