But Friday prayer leaders this week pledged to “support the wisdom” and “problem-solving” mission of Mr. Rouhani. And from a letter of support from 230 of 290 members of Iran’s conservative parliament to a resurrected debate about the pitfalls of the “Death to America” chant, analysts say hard-liners bent on perpetual conflict with the West remain headline-grabbing noisy – and still burn the Stars and Stripes – but have little influence right now. …

But while conservative Iranian newspapers, politicians, and some Revolutionary Guard officers have criticized Rouhani, the hundreds of supporters who also greeted him at the airport – among them the top foreign policy advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – indicate the scale of support inside Iran for Rouhani’s policy of “moderation” and effort to lift crippling US-led sanctions.

“Normally you would expect much stronger criticism, an onslaught against Rouhani, and it hasn’t happened,” says an Iranian political scientist currently in Washington, who asked not to be named. Rouhani has “gone farther” than any of his predecessors in reaching out to the US since his surprise mid-June election victory over a slate of conservative candidates.