Election as Hassan Rouhani as president doesn't mean change in Iran Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani is likely to take nuclear discussions "back to the past." In this official handout image, Iran's outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets newly-elected president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran on June 18, 2013. HERNDON, Va., July 2 (UPI) -- Early in his first term, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confidently predicted to other leaders of the Muslim world a major religious event would take place during his time in office. With his second term ending Aug. 3, his prediction won't happen but Ahmadinejad -- a non-cleric -- truly believed he was to be a catalyst in triggering the event's occurrence. This leaves us with: 1) an unknown unknown -- i.e., whether Iran's president-elect -- Hassan Rouhani -- will go "back to the future," claiming the prediction will occur on his watch; and 2) a known known -- i.e., whether Rouhani's presidency means it is "back to the past" on nuclear arms negotiations. Ahmadinejad predicted the return of Islam's 12th Imam or "Mahdi" -- a 5-year-old religious leader who disappeared more than a millennium ago, ascending into a state of occultation and only descending back to Earth at a time of world chaos to establish a global caliphate to which all other religions will be subservient. Ahmadinejad publicly reported during his second term he was visited by the Mahdi, who allegedly said the event was imminent. One reason Ahmadinejad fell into disfavor with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was this representation. It threatened the clerics' power, suggesting a non-cleric had better other-worldly connections than did the country's senior religious leader. Unsurprisingly, Khamenei then announced he too was visited by the Mahdi. But when Ahmadinejad's chief of staff and recently rejected-presidential-candidate, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, reported a visit by the Mahdi as well, it was too much for the clerics. They immediately accused Mashaei and Ahmadinejad of witchcraft and summoning genies and another Ahmadinejad staff member of being "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with unknown worlds." Apparently, in a theocracy, only clerics can have such powers! Had Iran's nuclear program gone according to plan, Ahmadinejad believed he would possess the key for triggering the Mahdi's return. Most Muslims believe in the 12th Imam's eventual return -- to be triggered by world chaos. But while the majority believes it need evolve naturally, Ahmadinejad is part of a small cult believing man can be the catalyst in triggering it -- even having a documentary film produced explaining his role in the Mahdi's return. This explains Ahmadinejad's relentless quest for a nuclear weapon -- for he intends to use it. While confident its development would occur on his watch, Ahmadinejad apparently wasn't warned by the Mahdi about U.S.-developed malware infecting Iranian computers and causing program setbacks. Completion now awaits Rouhani's presidency. A recent International Atomic Energy Agency report suggests Iran is already accelerating it nuclear activities. It is known Khamenei makes the calls on Iran's nuclear arms program. He is determined to see it through to completion. Khamenei's only problem with Ahmadinejad was the latter's effort to upstage the clerics. With the recent Iranian presidential election over,