The newly elected president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, recently got support from the Sunni Muslims of Iran. They announced it recently after a Jihadist group based in Iraq asked the Sunni Muslims to revolt against the Islamic Republic of Iran as the Shia Muslims were planning to suppress the Sunni community in Iran.
A resident of Khuzestan province, Osama Bin-Hazegh, said that the Sunni population would continuously support the president Hassan Rouhani, but at the same time, Hassan Rouhani should take care of the minority groups based in Iran. As of now, the Sunni populace are not permitted to have any religious meetings in and around Tehran nor were they allowed to offer Eid prayers.
The Sunni Muslims of Iran are however in full support of Hassan Rouhani. They also gave a statement that they would support the choice of ministers proposed by Hassan Rouhani. The Sunnis are looking forward to improve their ties with the president and they would approve all the proposed ministers to improvise on the ties.
In the previous census conducted in 2011, Sunni Muslims accounted for only 9% of the total population of Iran. They are concentrated in the regions of Sistan and Baluchistan, West Azerbaijan, Ilam, Kurdistan and Kermanshah. Due to the minority of Sunnis, they continue to feel threatened and exploited in Iran and do not enjoy other rights like Shias do.
Osama Bin Hazegh also said that they respect the rights and liberty of the Sunnis present in Iran, as they were a major part of the fight between Iran-Iraq, that stretched up to as long as 8 years. He also said that a number of Sunni Muslims gave up their lives during the war and hence, the government of Iran should respect their sacrifice and reward them.
During the previous rule of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a large number of clergymen belonging to the Shia community were deployed, so that the Sunni Muslims would get converted into Shia. This move received criticism from activists present all over Iran and the Government took heavy criticism for their actions.