Hassan Rouhani, former head of the government of the Islamic Republic, said in a meeting with a number of ministers and his deputies during his tenure as president: “In our society, sometimes there is a minority that says strange and bizarre things. A minority says that if this war is intensified and expanded, the Mahdi’s appearance will happen sooner, and for the Mahdi’s appearance we must intensify the war.”

He continued: “In 1383 [2004/2005], a person wanted to build a large podium for the Mahdi’s speech in one of Tehran’s main squares, and also procure an advanced sound system so that all people in Tehran could hear the speech.”

Rouhani added: “Some people are also looking for business opportunities—those same merchants of sanctions in reality. They, too, may be happy for the war and turmoil to continue. There are also people who may have certain ideas that we must go out and take the world and conquer it and, as they put it, guide everyone.”