Leadership Quote by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

A “sign of goodwill” is doing heavy rhetorical lifting here, because Rafsanjani is really talking about leverage. The sentence is structured like a modest request, but it operates as a conditional: unfreeze the money, and you’ll get a calibrated response in return. “Directive” signals hierarchy and discipline; he’s not floating a thought, he’s reminding listeners that he can order a line and hold it. Then he repeats himself - “I have the same idea this time” - a deliberately plain phrase that works as both reassurance and warning. Reassurance to those who want a diplomatic off-ramp: there’s a familiar, transactional path. Warning to those who think Iran will concede first: the opening move remains the same.

The context is the long shadow of U.S.-Iran bargaining where “assets” aren’t just funds, they’re symbols of sovereignty and humiliation. Frozen Iranian money in U.S. jurisdiction has functioned as punishment, bargaining chip, and domestic talking point on both sides. By framing release as “goodwill,” Rafsanjani tries to invert the usual moral accounting: Washington isn’t granting charity; it’s undoing an injustice. That shift matters at home, where leaders must show they extracted respect, not merely relief.

The subtext is also about sequencing. He’s arguing for a confidence-building measure that costs the U.S. little rhetorically (a technical financial step) but offers Iran something tangible. It’s diplomacy written in the language of domestic legitimacy: don’t ask me to trust you; prove you can move first.