CNN
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Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s presidential election, the country’s electoral authority said Saturday, beating his hard-line rival in a crucial vote amid heightened tensions both domestically and internationally.
Of the 30.5 million votes cast in Friday’s runoff, Pezeshkian won 53.6 percent, ahead of ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, who won 44.3 percent, according to state broadcaster Press TV. Turnout was 49.8 percent, Press TV reported.
Pezeshkian was elected in the second round after receiving the highest number of votes in the first round, ahead of Jalili. The first round recorded the lowest turnout for a presidential election since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
“We will extend our helping hand to everyone, we are all citizens of this country and we must use everyone’s efforts for the progress of the nation,” he said in his first remarks after his election victory, according to Press TV. He thanked those who voted in Friday’s poll “with love and to help” the country.
The Guardian Council, a powerful 12-member body responsible for overseeing elections and legislation, must certify the vote before Pezeshkian can take office.
Pezeshkian will lead a country facing growing international isolation, internal discontent, a spiraling economy and the prospect of direct conflict with its arch-enemy, Israel.
The snap elections that brought him to power came after President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran in May, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials. The lawmaker was the only reformist candidate running for the country’s top seat, after dozens of other candidates were barred from the race.
After his victory, Pezeshkian called for unity and support for his fellow Iranians in a statement published on X.
“Dear Iranian people, the elections are over and this is just the beginning of our support/work. The difficult path ahead will be paved only with your support, empathy and trust. I extend my hand to you and swear by my dignity that I will not leave you alone on this path. Do not leave me alone,” he wrote.
He favors dialogue with Iran’s enemies, particularly over its nuclear program, and sees it as a way to resolve the country’s internal problems.
“The main question is perspective: do we want to solve our problems with the world or not? I believe we have to get out of this impasse to solve the problems of the country,” he said during a presidential debate ahead of the second round of the election.
The leaders of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Syria were among the first to congratulate Pezeshkian.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he was “keen to develop and deepen the relations between our two countries and our two peoples, and to serve our common interests,” according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped Pezeshkian’s election would expand bilateral cooperation “in all areas” in the interest of “simplifying regional security and stability,” according to a Kremlin statement.
Although the Iranian president enjoys certain powers, ultimate authority rests with the Supreme Leader, who has the final say on all matters of state.
Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images/Archive
In this 2002 file photo, then-Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian, left, and then-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, right, listen to Abbas-Ali Karimi, center, director of Tehran’s Cardiology Center, as they tour an operating room during the center’s inauguration.
A health minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Pezeshkian is a trained heart surgeon and a member of parliament. He rose to prominence for his stance against the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2009 and the violence perpetrated by the notorious morality police in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini died in police custody after being arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands arrested as authorities have sought to crush the protests, according to the United Nations.
During the 2022 protests, Pezeshkian said in an interview with Iranian channel IRINN: “It’s our fault. We want to enforce religious faith by force. It’s scientifically impossible.”
“I bear some responsibility, prominent religious scholars and mosques bear some responsibility, as well as the (Iranian) broadcasting authority,” he said. “Everyone should come forward and be held accountable, rather than capturing this girl, beating her and finally handing over her body (to her family).”
He presented himself as the candidate of all Iranians. “Among my supporters, there are people from both the left and the right, even those who don’t pray,” he said during a recent presidential debate.
After losing his wife and one of his children in a car accident in 1994, he devoted much of his time to politics. Pezeshkian ran for president in 2013 and 2021, but failed to make headway.
The 69-year-old comes from a multi-ethnic family: his father is Azeri and his mother is Kurdish. Persian is not his mother tongue. This has strengthened his image among Iranian minorities, but has exposed him to xenophobic attacks from some opponents.
Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters
Supporters hold posters of Iranian presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian during a campaign event in Tehran, Iran, on July 3.
A more moderate presidency could facilitate dialogue between Iran and Western countries, experts say. Domestically, Pezeshkian could also introduce social changes, as he stressed during his election campaign, although experts warn that such measures are far from guaranteed.
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said Pezeshkian’s election was unlikely to immediately translate into policy changes. “But Pezeshkian has made it clear that he will try to work through and within the system to perhaps adapt to a less repressive environment.”
The reformer has not guaranteed that he could make these changes, Vakil said, adding that this shows the limits of presidential powers in Iran. “But (it could add) a little more room for maneuver in terms of social freedoms,” she added.
Other factors may be more difficult to change, including Iran’s foreign policy.
Pezeshkian takes office at a time when his country is embroiled in escalating tensions with Israel and its Western allies, sparked by the war in Gaza and Iran’s advancing nuclear program.
Just three months ago, Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time in the Gaza conflict. Israel is now preparing to open a second front against Hezbollah, Iran’s main regional proxy, in Lebanon.
The rhetoric between Iran and Israel intensified last week, when Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that if Israel “engages in a full-scale military aggression” against Lebanon, “a destructive war would ensue.”
“All options, including the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table,” he said on X.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded that “a regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed.”
According to experts, Pezeshkian is unlikely to change Israel’s current trajectory.
He also praised General Qasem Soleimani, the controversial head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who was assassinated in a US strike in 2020.
“I view it as a source of national pride and a thorn in the eye of our enemies,” he said during a recent presidential debate.
Sepehr/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images
Masoud Pezeshkian visits the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture in Tehran, Iran, on June 23.
But even if Western countries do not expect this election to change their relations with Iran, Pezeshkian is certainly their preferred candidate, as his opponent would only have aggravated existing tensions, experts said.
Former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, a key Pezeshkian ally and a reformist who oversaw a relatively warm period in international relations nearly a decade ago, has been floated as a potential candidate to return to his old post under the new president.
Zarif was Iran’s top diplomat when the regime struck a deal with the United States and world powers to limit Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief (a deal that has since nearly collapsed). While popular with Iranian youth, he has also been criticized by hardliners in Iran for being too friendly toward the West.
But before the election, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei condemned those seeking to improve relations with the West. And Pezeshkian has publicly stated that he will defer to Khamenei on foreign policy issues, so Zarif’s nomination is far from assured.
