Americans are easily charmed by smiling clerics, and Rouhani understands this. In 2007, he said, “We should talk carefully so as not to provoke the enemy, we should not give them any excuses.”

Who is the enemy? The U.S. is the enemy. According to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Steven Ditto, Rouhani wrote in 2003: “The fundamental principle in Iran’s relations with America — our entire focus — is national strength. Strength in politics, culture, economics, and defense — especially in the field of advanced technology — is the basis for the preservation and overall development of the System, and will force the enemy to surrender.”

Ditto, who has read much of Rouhani’s voluminous output, says the quotation “encapsulates the overwhelming impression gleaned from Rouhani’s history and writings: his identity as a revolutionary ideologue and defender of the Iranian `System.'” Ditto argues that Rouhani is simply a cleverer tactician than some of his colleagues. “What separates Rouhani from traditional ideologues, however — and what fuels perceptions of him as a `reformist’ — is his belief that certain kinds of political and social reform can facilitate the defense, upkeep, and legitimization of the Iranian regime.”

In other words, a pleasant phone call with the president of his chief adversary — and the prospect of extended negotiations — are legitimate if they help advance the goals of the regime.