UNITED NATIONS, UNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) confers with Javad Zarif (R), Iran's United Nations ambassador, during the United Nations General Assembly 19 September 2006 at UN headquarters in New York. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images) (Photo: )
Since the election of Hassan Rouhani back in June, Iran's leadership has tried to signal to the world that the country has entered a new era in foreign relations.
On Thursday, that effort reached previously unthinkable heights, when both Iran's new president and its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, tweeted Rosh Hashanah wishes to their followers.
As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah. pic.twitter.com/tmaf84x7UR
The outreach effort came as a shock to many who recalled the notorious anti-semitism of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As such, the Twitterverse reacted incredulously, with many wondering if this was, in fact, a demonstration of Iran's new outlook.
One such user was Christine Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who asked Zarif point-blank how he reconciled the apparent welcoming of the Jewish population by the current Iranian leadership with the bombastic rhetoric of the past. Zarif responded by noting that Iran had never officially denied the occurrence of the Holocaust, and that Ahmadinejad was no longer in power.
It would appear that while the foreign minister is asserting that Iran officially acknowledges that the Holocaust did, indeed, happen, he is also careful not to state outright that Ahmadinejad denied it in the first place. Considering that Rouhani has previously denounced his predecessor's anti-Israel comments as "hate speech," we're willing to take this as a positive sign for a potentially new Iranian course.
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani (portrait) in the presidential elections at Vanak square in northern Tehran on June 15, 2013. Iranian Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said Rouhani won outright with 18.6 million votes, or 50.68 percent. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Passengers in a public bus flash victory signs in a reaction of supporters of the Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, as they attend a celebration gathering, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, shown in poster, attends a celebration gathering in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Supporters of the Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, shown in poster at center, attend a celebration gathering in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A female supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani flashes a victory sign as she holds his poster during a celebration gathering in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Supporter of the Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani celebrate outside his campaign headquarters in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A female supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, flashes a victory sign as she holds his poster during a celebration gathering in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani holds his poster as another youth waves to a clergyman outside the campaign headquarters of Rouhani, in Tehran, a day after the election, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
An Iranian woman flashes the sign for victory as she holds a portrait of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani during celebrations for his victory in the Islamic Republic's presidential elections in downtown Tehran on June 15, 2013. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians supporters of moderate presidential candidate, Hassan Rouhani flash the sign of victory holding a portrait of him as they wait for the final results outside his campaign headquarter in downtown Tehran on June 15, 2013. Rouhani has a clear lead in Iran's presidential election, garnering 51 percent of the vote at 65 percent of polling stations across the country, the interior ministry said. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iranian woman holds a portrait of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani as she rides on a motorcycle along Valiasr street in Tehran on June 15, 2013 after he was elected as president. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iranian woman holds her purple scarf, the campaign color of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, as she celebrates along Valiasr street after he was elected as president on June 15, 2013, in the capital Tehran. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians gather as they celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhaniin the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. Iranian Interior Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said Rouhani won outright with 18.6 million votes, or 50.68 percent. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranian supporters of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani who won the national elections, celebrate in downtown Tehran on June 15, 2013. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians celebrate along Valiasr street, in the capital Tehran, on June 15, 2013, after moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani was elected as president. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iranian woman celebrates the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani (portrait) in the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani (portrait) in the Islamic Republic's presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani (portrait) in the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians gather to celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani in the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iranian woman celebrates the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani in the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians gather as they celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani in the presidential elections at Vanak Square, in northern Tehran, on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranian women hold a portrait of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani who won the national election in downtown Tehran on June 15, 2013. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
A female supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hasan Rouhani flashes a victory sign, as she holds his poster, during a celebration gathering, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rowhani (portrait) in the Islamic Republic's presidential elections in downtown Tehran on June 15, 2013. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
In front of a portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani, a former top nuclear negotiator, center, gestures to his supporters at a rally in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
An Iranian woman holds a portrait of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani as she rides on a motorcycle along Valiasr street in Tehran on June 15, 2013 after he was elected as president. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani in the Islamic Republic's presidential elections at Vanak square in northern Tehran on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians celebrate the victory of moderate presidential candidate Hassan Rowhani (portrait) in the Islamic Republic's presidential elections at Vanak square in northern Tehran on June 15, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
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