While the election of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, a self-proclaimed fundamentalist, as Iran’s president sent shock waves around the world and prompted dire warnings from US analysts, there was a far more measured reaction in Iran. Although many in business and finance had made no secret of their preference for Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the influential 71-year-old veteran whom Mr Ahmadi-Nejad defeated in June’s run-off ballot, a feeling of ‘wait and see’ dominated the weeks leading up to the presidential inauguration in early August.
Worries about the new government were reflected in the Tehran stock exchange losing 3.5% by mid-July, but there were also signs in the oil sector that big international players saw advantages in Iran having a conservative president. Within the financial sector also, many hoped conservative control of all main organs of government ‘parliament, presidency and Islamic watchdogs’ could end the political infighting of recent years.
