Hassan Rouhani's narration of the meeting with Seyyed Mohammad Khatami in 2013

Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Khatami came to visit me at home. In my opinion, he said the most honest and humble words in analyzing the elections and reforms. He said, "I say frankly, we (reformists) had no role in your victory and we were looking for another person and plan. We waited until the Monday before the election and did not decide to support you, but when we found out that you will definitely be elected and the polls confirmed this, we made a statement in support of you."

Khatami's temperament and mental health could not be reduced to this honest analysis. He continued: "That's why we don't have anything against you." In fact, Mr. Khatami officially announced to me that he does not want a share of this victory, nor does he intend to have a share in the cabinet - at least in his case - for himself. Mr. Khatami also mentioned my debates, interviews and speeches and said, "You played the main role in the victory."

Mr. Khatami's analysis was what I expected from him, but this did not mean ignoring the support of the reformists. I consider the support of the Reform Front to be very important to me, and I think that this support played an important role in finishing the work in the first phase of the elections, because the fundamentalists tried hard to make the elections go to the second phase. In fact, Mr. Khatami's suggestion to Mr. Aref to step down was both for Mr. Aref's benefit - because they certainly did not get votes - and also helped my victory in the first stage. Also, according to what was heard, Mr. Natiq Nouri's advice to Mr. Velayati not to resign at the end of the job was not ineffective.