This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Masud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran’s new president in parliament on July 30 after he won a snap presidential election earlier this month and inherited an economy hammered by mismanagement and sanctions and a society that has shown it will take to the streets to demand basic freedoms.
“I as the president, in front of the Holy Koran and the people of Iran, swear to almighty God to be the guardian of the official religion and the Islamic republic system and the constitution of the country,” Pezeshkian said in the ceremony broadcast live on state TV.
On July 28, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Pezeshkian and instructed him to focus on cultivating relations with Iran’s neighbors rather than Western states after the new president voiced openness to talking with the West.
Moderate reformist Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old former heart surgeon, defeated ultraconservative hard-liner Saeed Jalili in a July 5 runoff with nearly 54 percent of the vote. Jalili received just over 44 percent.
The snap election was called after the death of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May. The first round of voting on June 28 had voter participation of 39 percent — a record-low turnout for a presidential election in the history of the Islamic republic.
Iran’s theocracy, installed after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, has long maintained that it derives its legitimacy from strong popular support that translates into high voter turnout, but poor participation in recent elections and deadly antiestablishment protests have challenged the legitimacy of the current leadership.
The runoff vote on July 5 saw turnout rise to around 49 percent.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by senior officials from countries including Armenia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, and Brazil. European Union envoy Enrique Mora also attended.
Regional allies backed by Iran were also in Tehran, such as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah. Both groups have been designated as terrorists by the United States and European Union. Lebanon’s Hizballah and Yemen’s Huthi rebels also sent representatives.
Haniyeh and Nakhalah, whose groups have been fighting Israel in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, met with Khamenei and Pezeshkian. Since his election, Pezeshkian has reaffirmed support for the “axis of resistance,” Iran’s loose network of militant groups and proxies, against Israel and the United States.
Khamenei, in his endorsement decree, described Pezeshkian as a “wise, honest, popular, and scholarly” individual.
The United States has noted the result of the election but said that elections in Iran are neither free nor fair.
“As a result, a significant number of Iranians chose not to participate at all,” a U.S. State Department spokesman said in comments to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on July 7.
“We have no expectation these elections will lead to fundamental change in Iran’s direction or more respect for the human rights of its citizens. As the candidates themselves have said, Iranian policy is set by the supreme leader.
“The election will not have a significant impact on [Washington’s] approach to Iran either. Our concerns about Iran’s behavior are unchanged. At the same time, we remain committed to diplomacy when it advances American interests,” the spokesman said.
The United States in 2018 withdrew from a 2015 landmark nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers that eased international economic sanctions in exchange for limits to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Washington cited Tehran’s violation of the spirit of the pact and support for extremists in the region — charges Iran has denied — and reimposed sanctions targeting Iran’s economy and oil sector.
Iran has since scaled back its own commitments and expanded its nuclear program.
“We call on the Western countries to realize [the need] for building relations based on mutual respect and equality. We are ready to negotiate an easing of tensions with states that have not realized until now the place that Iran occupies [in the world],” Pezeshkian said.
He also vowed to continue fighting against the sanctions imposed on Iran. “I think that this is Iran’s unalienable right to have normal relations with the world and I will not bow down in the fight against tough sanctions,” he said.
