5 things you didn’t know about Hassan Rouhani

With Hassan Rouhani having won the Iranian elections, here are five things you didn’t know about the 64-year-old president-elect.

• From a very early age he knew he wanted to be president of Iran and in a lesson at Qom Junior High in 1961, a 12-year-old Rouhani wrote that he would one day win the elections and declare it a victory for moderation. However, he later wrote that he would also like to play football and win the FA Cup for Tottenham Hotspur.

• His 2011 memoirs National Security and Nuclear Diplomacy topped Amazon’s bestsellers list for four straight months, eventually being ousted by Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver.

• Although he might be considered a moderate among Iran’s political heavyweights, when it comes to chocolate biscuits Rouhani is anything but and he has been known to munch his way through an entire packet during nuclear negotiation sessions.

• A chance encounter with a Hollywood film producer while on holiday in Los Angeles earned Rouhani a walk on part in 2013 Oscar-winner Argo. He played angry cleric number four on left and described the experience as “hugely rewarding”.

• While an undergraduate at Glasgow Caledonian University in 1995, Rouhani developed quite a taste for local Scottish delicacies including deep-fried Mars bars, Tennent’s Super and heroin.