[Repost] I'm a Canadian who has always been interested in Iran. Currently I'm trying to learn more about the content or discontent among its society.

Iranians aren't Arab, and Iran is run by different rules than the Arab countries. There's a large amount of security nowadays, especially after a failed assassination attempt against Khamenei (he has one lame arm resulting from the attempt), and the rise of Daesh which hates Iran due to it being Shia. Anyway, about Rouhani... Rouhani is a very smart man. He knows he can't act like Khatemi, a center-left reformist who was way too idealistic, and because of this, failed, had any mention of him in the media banned, and failed to do much good. He also lead to the rise of Ahmadinejad, a far-right president. So, Rouhani is keeping to the center/center-right, so that he can get reform though, but not so much so that the conservatives will revolt against him. So, for that, I commend him. Khatami backs Rouhani, so that should give you an idea of the two-sided dangerous game Rouhani is playing. I think Rouhani's re-election is very likely, and if this nuclear deal ends up fruitful for Iran, not only will he secure re-election, he'll probably be the first of several reformists to take power.
If you want a list of people/groups to look up, chronologically, here you go:
The Qajar Dynasty (the dynasty that ended the empire)
Reza Pahlavi (the man who created modern Iran)
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (the last king of Iran)
Mohammed Mossadegh (the left-wing reformist under the king)
Ruhollah Khomenei (the father of the Islamic Republic) Ali Khamenei (the current Supreme Leader) Mohammed Khatami (the center-left reformist under the Islamic Republic)
Mahmoud Ahmadinijad (the far-right result of Khatami)
Hassan Rouhani (the current president)
So, for a bit of clarity, I'll explain a few transitions. Reza Shah takes power with British support from the Qajar in a coup. In WW2, Reza Shah is exiled to South Africa, and his kid takes over. There's a fake constitutional monarch in which the monarch has real power. During the kid (Mohammed Reza Pahalvi)'s reign, a powerless PM, Mossadegh, gets extreme public support, and after stepping down and causing massive protest and the whole country to shut down, gains real power and marginalizes the king. The British and Americans then help the king gain power back in a coup due to Mossadegh's left-wing policy. People are pissed about this. This helps lead to Khomenei taking power. As much as I don't agree with Khomenei, near the end of his life, he wanted to make Iran more free. He wanted to instate a Mulluh (the religious leaders who can become supreme leaders) who would modernize the country and make it more free. Unfortunately, at this point he was very old, and the conservatives forced him to change his successor from a reformist with popular support to Khamenei, a far-right mullah. And here we are at the present.

/r/iran Thread Parent