Leadership Quote by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Optimism, delivered with a politician's careful grip on the brakes. Rafsanjani praises Iraqi elections as having "gone well", then immediately cages that praise inside the reality everyone can see: "so much insecurity in Iraq". The sentence order matters. He leads with procedural legitimacy, then nods to violence, as if to say the voting itself is a victory even if the state is not yet a state.

The line about "not been a significant complaint" is doing quiet work. It's not a moral endorsement of democracy; it's a narrow, legalistic claim about process. In the post-2003 Iraq context, where the U.S.-led invasion shattered institutions and sectarian militias competed for authority, "complaints" is code for the kind of irregularities that can delegitimize a new order and invite renewed conflict. By emphasizing the absence of major objections, Rafsanjani is laundering uncertainty into something that can be called stability.

His final move - "We have to wait to see what the outcome...is" - signals the real audience: not idealistic voters but regional power brokers. Iran had deep interests in who would dominate Baghdad, and Rafsanjani was skilled at presenting influence as patience. The subtext is restraint with a purpose: accept the process publicly, keep leverage privately, and reserve judgment until the winners are known. It's diplomacy as damage control, calibrated to sound responsible while leaving every door open.