Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's English-language Twitter account sent out this message just before sunset, Tehran time, wishing Jews a happy Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish new year and begins at sundown: 
 
 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 — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) September 4, 2013 
 
 Social media users identified the image as of a Tehran synagogue. Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency says that the two Hebrew words on the wall are "tinham selah," which literally mean "govern" and "pause," and are from this Psalms 67 line: "Thou shalt judge the peoples with equity and govern the nations upon Earth." 
 
 The tweet called special attention to Iran's Jews -- there are thought to be perhaps 25,000 living largely in peace -- but it's the reference to "all Jews" that seems especially significant. Given the long-standing enmity between Iran and Israel, and the years of official Iranian rhetoric condemning Israel in often anti-Semitic language, this is quite a shift. 
 
 After eight years of fiercely anti-Israeli rhetoric from former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government, rhetoric that often veered well into anti-Semitism, it's difficult to separate discussion of Jews in Iranian political discourse from discussion of Israel. That's obviously not a particularly helpful habit. But the point is that this tweet, purportedly from Iran's president, seemed to be offering a very small gesture of goodwill at least partially toward Israelis, who can usually expect nothing but hateful rhetoric from Iranian rulers. It's not exactly a unilateral declaration of peace -- tomorrow, Iran will probably still support Hezbollah -- but it's yet another hint of Rouhani's efforts to dramatically soften Iranian foreign policy and rhetoric. 
 
 Iran's new President, Hasan Rouhani, waves after swearing in at the parliament, in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) 
 
 The Twitter account is not officially verified or formally acknowledged by Rouhani, but is generally considered by Iran-watchers to represent his office. Although many Iranian officials have social media accounts associated with them, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (whose Instagram account often posts photos not found elsewhere, seemingly verifying its authenticity), they are never openly acknowledged, likely because the government blocks these same services on Iran's Internet. The only exception came just two weeks ago, when new Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif publicly acknowledged his Facebook account and then his Twitter account. Rouhani's Twitter account acknowledged Zarif's, a hint of a connection. But maybe most convincing is that Rouhani's official spokesmen have never bothered to disavow the news-making English-language Twitter feed. 
 
 The question of Rouhani's rhetoric toward Israel and the West is a remarkably sensitive one, in part because the world is still hunting for clues as to whether this new Iranian leader is really willing and able to do what it takes to achieve peace. A tweet from an unofficial account associated with the president is in itself obviously not a tectonic shift. But it's worth keeping in mind that Rouhani is constrained by his own domestic politics, which include hard-liner factions and which make even these small gestures far from cost-free for him. 
 
 In a sign of just how unusual this is, Haleh Esfandiari, head of the Middle East studies program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told al-Monitor's Laura Rozen, "Not even under the monarchy do we remember such a message." 
 
 Update: Fars News journalist Sadegh Ghorbani reports that a Rouhani spokesperson says that the president does not have a Twitter account. The spokesperson did not directly dispute the English-language account or say the tweets don't represent Rouhani's views. The non-denial denial is perhaps in response to the Western media attention to this tweet, but it raised more questions that it answered. Tehran-based reporter Amin Khorami, Al-Monitor's Arash Karami and others say that the account is actually run by the media office of Rouhani's presidential campaign team. The campaign has been over for a couple of months, so it raises the question of whether the people running the account continue tweeting in an official or unofficial capacity and whether or not they coordinate directly with Rouhani or his office. The prevailing speculation among Iran-watchers is that Rouhani may be keeping the account semi-official to inure him from criticism by internal hard-liners while allowing continued gestures of good faith toward the West. Although one Iran analyst suggested to me that Washington may be overstating the account's significance in representing Rouhani's views. ||||| “Shaking hands with Obama would have won Rouhani huge points with the Iranian public, but it would have caused Iran’s hard-liners a conniption,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Rouhani avoided other land mines at the United Nations. His comments to the General Assembly, though less inflammatory than those of Mr. Ahmadinejad, touched on similar themes and grievances: the lack of respect for Iran, the West’s refusal to recognize its right to enrich uranium, and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. 
 
 But when Mr. Rouhani sat down later with Ms. Amanpour, he moved into fraught territory. Asked whether he shared his predecessor’s belief that the Holocaust was a myth, Mr. Rouhani replied, according to CNN’s translation, that he would leave it to historians to judge the “dimensions of the Holocaust.” 
 
 But he added, “In general, I can tell you that any crime or — that happens in history against humanity, including the crime that the Nazis committed towards the Jews, as well as non-Jewish people — is reprehensible and condemnable, as far as we are concerned.” 
 
 The Iranian news agency Fars, which has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, posted its own translation of Mr. Rouhani’s answer, and claimed that he did not use the word “reprehensible” and that he said historians should be left to judge “historical events,” not “the Holocaust.” 
 
 That translation resembles more closely the way Mr. Ahmadinejad used to discuss the issue. In an interview with CNN in 2012, he said: “Whatever event has taken place throughout history, or hasn’t taken place, I cannot judge that. Why should I judge that?” 
 
 In what appeared to be an effort to head off criticism of Mr. Rouhani, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday that the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, said the president had presented Iran’s clear and revolutionary stands in his United Nations speech. 
 
 Mr. Ahmadinejad’s refusal to recognize the Holocaust became a symbol of Tehran’s implacable hostility. For Israel, it is evidence that Iran is bent on its elimination, and this is why Israel is so determined to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. 
 
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 While American Jewish leaders characterized Mr. Rouhani’s remarks as a modest step forward, they remained deeply skeptical of Iran’s intentions and its readiness to abandon its nuclear ambitions. 
 
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 “Assuming the accuracy of the translation, for me his comments are duly noted,” said David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee. “But he’s only acknowledging, and rather belatedly, the universally acknowledged truth of the last 70 years. That does not warrant a standing ovation.” 
 
 Israeli officials reject Mr. Rouhani’s claim that the factual details of the Holocaust are a matter best left to historians. In fact, some analysts say, even raising doubts about the scope of the genocide is itself a form of Holocaust revisionism. 
 
 A statement issued last week by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “It does not take a historian to recognize the existence of the Holocaust — it just requires being a human being.” 
 
 Mr. Netanyahu, rattled by Mr. Obama’s desire to engage Iran, has warned that Mr. Rouhani, with his professorial demeanor and moderate tone, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Yet Iran’s hard-liners, Mr. Sadjadpour said, “probably view him as sheep in wolf’s clothing.” 
 
 The complex political crosscurrents were on display in the Iranian news media’s coverage of Mr. Rouhani’s day at the United Nations. A reformist newspaper, Shargh, published pictures of Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Obama during their speeches, with the headline “Perhaps Another Time” — a reflection of the letdown among average Iranians about the missed opportunity for a handshake. 
 
 But another paper, Kayhan, which is close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed horror over the possibility that “the clean hand of our president would for moments be in the bloody clench” of Mr. Obama. 
 
 Advisers and analysts close to the government in Tehran said that after weeks of conciliatory statements and gestures by Mr. Rouhani, the excitement had gotten out of hand. 
 
 “We need to gain something from the Americans, before we pose and smile with them,” said Hamid-Reza Taraghi, an official who is one of the few trusted to interpret the speeches of Ayatollah Khamenei. “Of course, Mr. Rouhani also needed to convince some at home that he is not making any wild moves.” 
 
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 Mr. Rouhani himself suggested that a meeting would have been premature and might actually have jeopardized the longer-term goal of striking an agreement on the nuclear program. Speaking to editors and columnists in New York on Wednesday, he said, “I believe we did not have enough time to make it happen.” 
 
 “If we do not take our first steps carefully,” he said, “we may not at the very least be able to obtain mutual goals that are in our minds.” 
 
 White House officials, though deflated, said Mr. Rouhani’s decision showed he is an astute political player who knows how to calm hard-liners at home while charming audiences abroad. Those are skills they say he will need to navigate the treacherous waters of Iranian politics. 
 
 “The issue of the relationship between the United States and Iran is incredibly controversial within Iran,” said a senior administration official. “For them it was just too difficult to move forward with that type of encounter at the presidential level, at this juncture.”
– The old Iranian president called the Holocaust a hoax. The new one? He's reportedly tweeting wishes of goodwill to Jews as Rosh Hashanah begins, reports BuzzFeed: "As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah," says the tweet from Hasan Rouhani, referring to the Jewish new year. Rouhani is universally described as far more moderate than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Assuming the tweet is legit—it may have come from his media office rather than the man himself—Rouhani seems "to be offering a very small gesture of goodwill at least partially toward Israelis, who can usually expect nothing but hateful rhetoric from Iranian rulers," writes Max Fisher at the Washington Post. "It’s not exactly a unilateral declaration of peace—tomorrow, Iran will probably still support Hezbollah—but it’s yet another hint of Rouhani’s efforts to dramatically soften Iranian foreign policy and rhetoric."