--- description: Hassan Rouhani tweeted his well wishes on the eve of the Jewish New Year. title: Iran's President Wishes Jews a Happy Rosh Hashana image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21c054c67b0a2fe9/69886363cd1bba160c6fd24d/gettyimages-480410674.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Iran](/tag/iran/) ## Iran Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Iran's President Wishes Jews a Happy Rosh Hashana  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 13, 2015 3:18 PM CUT  President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani during a meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi on July 09, 2015. President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani during a meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi on July 09, 2015.Sergey Guneev—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 13, 2015 3:18 PM CUT Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani tweeted out best wishes to Jews all over the world for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year that begins at sunset on Sunday. Rouhani, seen as a “moderate” compared to his firebrand predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, [who famously questioned whether the Holocaust happened](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1874579%5F1874596%5F1874646,00.html "undefined"), has played an instrumental role in the [nuclear deal](http://time.com/3956880/iran-nuclear-deal/ "undefined") [moving through Congress](http://time.com/4030286/senate-iran-vote/ "undefined") at the moment. Some Jewish lawmakers, such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, have voiced concerns over the deal and the historical rivalry between Iran and Israel, while [others are supporting it](http://time.com/4004106/jewish-leaders-iran/ "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/HassanRouhani/status/643067027389837312) This isn’t the first time Rouhani has extended new year greetings to Jews: the tradition began in 2013, when he was first elected to office. But [Rouhani has admitted that he doesn’t control his own Twitter account](http://time.com/1775/no-irans-rouhani-doesnt-tweet/ "undefined"): at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2014, he confessed his Rosh Hashana tweet for the previous year was written by “friends.” > [](https://twitter.com/hassanrouhani/status/375278962718412800) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/"},"headline":"Iran's President Wishes Jews a Happy Rosh Hashana","datePublished":"2015-09-13T15:18:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:53:53.421Z","description":"Hassan Rouhani has tweeted similar well wishes before","url":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/","keywords":["Iran","Hassan Rouhani","Israel","twitter","jews","Judaism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21c054c67b0a2fe9/69886363cd1bba160c6fd24d/gettyimages-480410674.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21c054c67b0a2fe9/69886363cd1bba160c6fd24d/gettyimages-480410674.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRICS/SCO Summits - Russia 2015","caption":"BRICS/SCO Summits - Russia 2015","creditText":"Sergey Guneev—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/","name":"Iran's President Wishes Jews a Happy Rosh Hashana"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Democrats Secure 41 Votes for Iran Deal","description":"Senate Democrats rallied 41 votes in support of the Iran Nuclear Deal","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3wTnEJ5S/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-02T16:28:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3wTnEJ5S.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4032762/iran-tweet-rosh-hashana/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```