Mr. Rouhani knows that the shah was overthrown 34 years ago because he had lost touch with the needs and sentiments of the Iranians. The president obviously intends to avoid the same fate. It may be premature to call Mr. Rouhani an Iranian Gorbachev. It would be worse, though, if the West recognized him as such too late.

Of all the young Iranians I spoke with during a recent two-week visit, nearly everyone said they believe that Mr. Rouhani is a true reformer and that Iran has a chance of experiencing its own spring. “We don’t want a revolution like in the Arab states. Look what happened there. Chaos,” said a 30-year-old academic in Isfahan. “But you need to give Rouhani time. I mean, how many changes did Barack Obama bring about during his first term?”

In a cafe in the same city two women formed an unlikely pair over their macchiatos. One, in jeans, wore a head scarf but with obvious contempt, pushed back to reveal as much of her hair as tolerable. The other wore a chador, piously concealing everything but the oval of her face. What united them was their desire for the government to stay out of their private lives, regardless of whether they were religious or not.

The woman with the chador introduced herself as Mina, a 24-year-old sociology student. She told me that, as a believer, she was unhappy with the way Islam was being exploited for political ends in Iran. She said she had taken to the streets during the Green movement in 2009, only to be insulted by pious old men, who couldn’t believe that a member of their own flock was taking part in the anti-government protests.

“I told them I wasn’t one of them,” she said. “I told them I wanted to live my religion, but I didn’t want Islam to be used to govern a country.”