Hassan Rouhani

All countries in my part of the world, we want democracy to prevail. I told the people, 'If you want American policies to stop, we need to take action.' We need to make the U.S. understand that its meddling is inappropriate.

It got to the point where most of my time went toward writing novels. I would still occasionally write short stories, but only when I was commissioned by an editor to write for a themed anthology or special issue.