Iranian President Rouhani: In This Time of War, We Cannot Keep Election Promises We Made at Time of Peace Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a December 30, 2019 speech that aired on IRINN TV (Iran) that his government is not fulfilling its election promises because those promises had been made "under circumstances of peace” and war has since been forced upon Iran. Urging the public to be patient, Rouhani said: "We did not choose to go to this war, nor did we start it." Rouhani’s speech was