Rowhani’s efforts to portray Iran’s foreign policy in a democratic light are less convincing. For example, his call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power until the scheduled 2014 elections is risible, given that Assad typically “wins” Syria’s presidential elections by Soviet-like margins, with more than 95% of the popular vote.
鲁哈尼用民主的外衣来粉饰伊朗的外交政策并不令人信服。比如，他呼吁叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德继续掌权直至2014年如期大选，这是可笑的，因为巴沙尔总是会以苏联式的优势“赢得”叙利亚总统选举，公众支持率在95%以上。