Hassan Rouhani

Position: President, Iran

Biography: Hassan Rouhani was appointed president of Iran on 3 August 2013, after a surprise victory in the June presidential election. In the run-up to the poll, Rouhani won the support of reformists including former president Mohammad Khatami, and campaigned on renewing dialogue with the West after decades of tensions.

On 24 November, he was instrumental in leading Tehran to sign a historic deal with the P5+1 world powers in Geneva under which the Islamic Republic agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions.

The next 12 months will be a crucial time for Iran, with Rouhani hoping for a further repeal of sanctions when the Geneva interim agreement comes to an end in May. He faces the difficult task of meeting international demands on Iran’s nuclear programme while keeping the parliament’s hard-line conservatives, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on his side.