The Iranian elections seem to have provided a welcome shock. Hassan Rohani appears to have won the majority of the votes outright on the first ballot, meaning that there may be no need for a run-off. If that lead holds, the hardliners will have lost the presidential election. Here is Jack Straw’s estimation of Mr. Rohani:

British former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who dealt with Rohani during nuclear negotiations between 2003 and 2005, called him a “very experienced diplomat and politician”.

“This is a remarkable and welcome result so far and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no jiggery-pokery with the final result,” Straw told Reuters, alluding to accusations of widespread rigging in the 2009 election.

“What this huge vote of confidence in Doctor Rohani appears to show is a hunger by the Iranian people to break away from the arid and self-defeating approach of the past and for more constructive relations with the West,” he said.

“On a personal level I found him warm and engaging. He is a strong Iranian patriot and he was tough, but fair to deal with and always on top of his brief.”

The Ayatollah’s preferred candidate, Saeed Jalili, came in no better than third place with less than 16% of the vote. Let us hope that the results stand up. It is encouraging to see the Iranian people reject continued confrontation. Rohani’s election would reinvigorate the moderate factions in Iran who want more constructive engagement with the world. Because the office of the presidency has little to do with Iranian foreign policy, the benefits to us will be indirect. We should not expect any immediate change in U.S.-Iran relations. However, I believe Rohani’s election provides a mandate to improve the economy and that entails doing things that might ease the sanctions. In this case, the sanctions on Iran may have led to a positive development by discrediting the regime’s foreign policy.