Politics & Power Quote by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

A calculated olive branch, wrapped in a moral scolding. Rafsanjani isn’t simply advising Americans to “do good”; he’s proposing a new tempo for U.S. power: slow down, stop lashing out, and accept that trust is not a vending machine. The line “gradually begin” does heavy political work. It lowers the bar for change (no dramatic reversal required) while insisting that the current baseline is “evil,” a word chosen to frame U.S. policy not as misguided but as ethically illegitimate.

The second move is the real tell: “They should not expect an immediate reaction.” This is a preemptive negotiation tactic disguised as patience. Rafsanjani is warning against Washington’s familiar cycle of transactional diplomacy: offer a concession, demand instant compliance, declare failure, return to pressure. By insisting on delayed reciprocity, he tries to reset the terms so Iran can take its time without appearing obstinate. It’s also an insurance policy against domestic hard-liners: if engagement doesn’t pay off quickly, that’s not proof that outreach failed, it’s proof that “it will take time.”

Context matters because Rafsanjani was a pragmatic operator inside a system built on suspicion of the U.S. He’s speaking to multiple audiences at once: to Americans, as a conditional invitation; to Iranians, as a reminder that dignity requires the U.S. to move first; to the wider world, as an attempt to cast Iran as the adult in the room. The rhetoric of patience is the point: he’s asking for de-escalation without surrender, and credit without capitulation.