# First inauguration of Hassan Rouhani

The inauguration of Hassan Rouhani as the 7th president of Iran took place on two rounds, first on Saturday 3 August 2013 whereby he received his presidential precept from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and entered to the Sa'dabad Palace, official residence of the president in a private ceremony. The second was on the next day with sworn in for the office in the Parliament of Iran. This marked the commencement of the four-year term of Hassan Rouhani as president and his vice president. The event was awaited with some expectation, since for the first time foreign guests participated in the ceremony. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice, Sadeq Larijani.

## Planning

The inauguration ceremony began at 16:00 IRDT and finished at 19:00. Foreign guests resided in two places. Heads of states and governments stayed at the Sa'dabad Palace, which is the official residence of the Iranian president. Other guests based in Parsian Esteghlal Hotel. Hassan Rouhani went to Imam Khomeini Hosseinieh, the official residence of Supreme Leader of Iran to receive his presidential precept from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. After that, he began his career as President of Iran officially. On the next day, an official inauguration took place which he must perform the oath of office beside Sadeq Larijani, head of Judiciary System of Iran. Before the sworn in ceremony begins, Parliament speaker, Ali Larijani welcomed the new government and guests with a 30-minute speech. Rouhani had a 45-minute mandate for his first speech as the president of Iran.

## Invitations

The group organizing the inauguration invited international and national authorities for the swearing in ceremony. The ceremonial body of the Parliament sent invitations to all members of the current legislature and some famous Iranian political and cultural persons. All governors of the provinces, ambassadors and Friday prayer imams were invited for the event. Former presidents, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were also invited. After the ceremony, guests attended a dinner party hosted by Rouhani.

### Foreign dignitaries

The following leaders attended the swearing in ceremony:
Government leaders :
| Afghanistan | President | Hamid Karzai |
| Armenia | President | Serzh Sargsyan |
| Bolivia | Vice President | Álvaro García Linera |
| Cuba | Vice President | Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz |
| Ghana | Vice President | Kwesi Amissah-Arthur |
| Guinea-Bissau | President | Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo |
| Iraq | Vice President | Khodair al-Khozaei |
| Kazakhstan | President | Nursultan Nazarbayev |
| Kuwait | Prime Minister | Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah |
| Kyrgyzstan | President | Almazbek Atambayev |
| Lebanon | President | Michel Suleiman |
| India | Vice President | Mohammad Hamid Ansari |
| Nicaragua | Vice President | Omar Halleslevens |
| North Korea | President of the Presidium | Kim Yong-Nam |
| Pakistan | President | Asif Ali Zardari |
| Qatar | Emir | Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani |
| Sri Lanka | President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| Eswatini | Prime Minister | Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini |
| Syria | Prime Minister | Wael Nader Al-Halqi |
| Tajikistan | President | Emomalii Rahmon |
| Tanzania | Vice President | Mohamed Gharib Bilal |
| Togo | President | Faure Gnassingbé |
| Turkmenistan | President | Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow |
| Government representatives |||
| Algeria | Chairperson of the Senate | Abdelkader Bensalah |
| Azerbaijan | Speaker | Ogtay Asadov |
| Brazil | Foreign Minister | Antonio Patriota |
| Brunei | Foreign Minister | Mohamed Bolkiah |
| Burundi | Foreign Minister | Laurent Kavakure |
| China | Minister of Culture | Cai Wu |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Speaker | Aubin Minaku |
| India | Foreign Minister | Salman Khurshid |
| Indonesia | Speaker | Sidarto Danusubroto |
| Iraq | Kurdistan Prime Minister | Nechervan Idris Barzani |
| Malaysia | Deputy Prime Minister Foreign Minister | Muhyiddin Yassin Anifah Aman |
| Mauritania | Foreign Minister | Hamadi Ould Hamadi |
| Oman | Minister of Heritage and Culture | Haitham bin Tariq al Said |
| Palestine | Foreign Minister | Riyad al-Maliki |
| Russia | Speaker | Sergey Naryshkin |
| Saudi Arabia | Minister of State for Foreign Trade | Musaad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban |
| South Africa | Foreign Minister | Maite Nkoana-Mashabane |
| Sri Lanka | Foreign Minister | G. L. Peiris |
| Turkey | Foreign Minister | Ahmet Davutoğlu |
| Ukraine | Deputy Prime Minister | Serhiy Arbuzov |
| United Arab Emirates | Speaker | Mohammad Al Murr |
| Uzbekistan | Chairman of the Senate | Ilgizar Sabirov |
| Venezuela | Speaker | Diosdado Cabello |
| Heads of multilateral organizations |||
| Organisation of Islamic Cooperation | Secretary-General | Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu |
| United Nations | Deputy Secretary-General | Jan Eliasson |
| Former leaders |||
| European Union | Former EU Foreign Policy Chief | Javier Solana |
| Malaysia | Former Prime Minister | Mahathir Mohamad |
| United Kingdom | Former Secretary of State | Jack Straw |
After the election of Rouhani as the seventh president of Iran, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw, who has a close friendship with Hassan Rouhani, publicly announced his inclination for participating in Rouhani's presidential inauguration. Two weeks later, Parliament sent an official invitation to him. However, he declined this invitation due to personal and family reasons and also that he was not a British official. Abbas Araghchi, the spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that Parliament sent invitations to all governments' officials except Israel, with which Iran has no formal relations.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had confirmed his participation in the ceremony but his chartered Saudi aircraft was prevented from flying into Saudi Arabian airspace on its way to Tehran.

## Broadcast

Rouhani's inauguration was broadcast nationally by all major television networks. IRIB broadcast the event live. BBC Persian, Voice of America, Press TV, Manoto, CNN, ABC News, NBC, Channel 4, RT, NRK, SRF, Euronews, TRT Türk and Al Jazeera also aired the event. Among 2,000 reporters were permitted to enter the Parliament house.