THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN 2024 -
President Masoud Pezeshkian
Background
After the unexpected death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter accident, once again a reformist was allowed to succeed a hard-liner. Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist and also a cardiac surgeon, won the presidential election on July 5, 2024. He was born in 1954 to a religious family with an Azeri father and Kurdish mother, in Azerbaijan province. Pezeshkian began studying medicine in Tabriz in 1976. He organized Quran classes while studying and organised fellow-students in anti-monarchy demonstrations in 1979.
During the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Pezeshkian dispatched medical teams to the front lines and treated the wounded. He later earned a degree in general surgery and then a specialist degree in heart surgery in 1993.
In 1994, his wife and a daughter were killed in a car accident. Pezeshkian never remarried and raised his other daughter and two sons alone. Also in 1994, he was appointed president of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and held the position for some five years.
He served as deputy health minister during the first term of President Khatami from 1997 to 2001. and again during his second term from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure, he expanded access to health insurance for nearly 25 million people in rural areas and nearly doubled the ministry’s budget through working with lawmakers.
In 2006, upset by the policies of President Ahmadinejad, he entered Parliament, representing Tabriz. He was reelected four consecutive times. In 2009, millions turned out over the course of six months to protest an allegedly fraudulent vote that reelected President Ahmadinejad. In a speech in Parliament, Pezeshkian criticized the bloody crackdown by security forces. “Do not kill people like a wild animal,” he said , quoting Ali, the first Shiite imam. “When you can, don't intervene sharply, don't hit, don't strike.”
He served as first deputy speaker of Parliament from 2016 to 2020.
In 2022, Pezeshkian condemned the death in custody of Mahsa Amini: “It is unacceptable that in the Islamic Republic, a girl is arrested for her hijab and then her body is handed to her family,” he tweeted in 2022, but also warned that “insulting the supreme leader… will create nothing except long-lasting anger and hatred in the society.”
The Guardian Council initially barred Pezeshkian, along with nearly all prominent reformists, from running for Parliament in the March 2024 election. Pezeshkian said that he had been disqualified because he had protested over Amini’s death and the use of force against women. But the council reversed course and allowed him to stand for reelection. Pezeshkian attributed the change to a good word from the supreme leader.
Major reformist political parties and figures, including former President Khatami, endorsed Pezeshkian to succeed Raisi. During the campaign, his views on domestic and foreign policy contrasted with those of the five other candidates, all conservatives of different stripes. Pezeshkian called for engagement with the West and greater personal freedoms. The dark horse took first place in the June 28 vote and comprehensively defeated Saeed Jalili, a hardliner and former nuclear negotiator, by over 3 million votes in the runoff on July 5.
Inauguration. He never stood a chance!
He'd barely been installed as PM, when one of the guests at his inauguration was assassinated. Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas, and former Prime Minister of Gaza, was killed in Tehran, in an apartment that had been wired with explosives in anticipation of his display. Israel's Mossad was presumed responsible. US President Biden remarked that his muder was "Not helpful" to ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in which he was a key participant.
Hardliners in Iran pressed for immediate retaliation, which Pezeshkian argued against. His ambition was to renegotiate the nuclear deal in exchange for relief of sanctions.
Confronting Israel 1 - aggressive provocation and a moderate reaction
During Raisi's presidency (in April 2024), an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus killed several Iranian officers. Iran retaliated with strikes on Israel in April 202. This was the first head-to-head confrontation between the two nations.
Pezeshkian, as president, despite further Israeli terror attacks (Lebanon 17-18 September 2024 on Iran’s ally Hezbollah), continued to declare his willingness to discuss an agreement to lower regional tension. Addressing the UN General Assembly on 24 September, he sain he wanted to open a 'constructive chapter' in Iran's international relations: Tehran was 'ready to engage' with Western powers regarding its nuclear program, provided they acted in good faith. Israel's assassination in Beirut two weeks later of Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan (Deputy Commander of IRGC), and Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasralla , followed up by an invasion of Lebanon on Oct 1, however, was too much. He ordered a limited missile strike on Israel in retaliation.
2 - Condemnation of Gaza genocide.
Pezeshkian has consistently condemned Israel’s "genocide" and "crimes against humanity," in Gaza. Frequently, too, he's criticised the international community and Western nations for their silence and complicity. In his 2025 UN General Assembly address and other statements, he accused Israel of massacring civilians, destroying infrastructure, and enforcing starvation.
3 - Twelve Day War
On 13 June 2025, Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran in a surprise attack, assassinating prominent military leaders , nuclear scientists,and politicians (although Pezhkian and others escaped), killing civilians, and damaging or destroying air defenses. Iran retaliated with over 550 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 suicide drones, hitting at least twelve military, energy, and government sites, with some collateral damage to civilian areas. The United States intercepted Iranian attacks, and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on 22 June. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire under US pressure.
