The files we follow: Iranian domestic policy, Iranian foreign policy, Iranian homeland security
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Following the fatal helicopter crash suffered by President Ebrahim Raissi in May 2024 while travelling in the East Azerbaijan region of Iran, new presidential elections were held between 28 June and 5 July.
Most of the serious candidates to succeed Ebrahim Raissi were from the conservative or principalist camp, favouring a stricter application of the ideological principles adopted by the Islamic republic since 1979, and close to the Ayatollah’s politico-religious vision. This is the case of candidate Saïd Jalili, former representative of the Supreme Guide on the Supreme National Security Council, who reached the second round with 40.35% of the vote. This political family is widely represented in Iranian institutions.
However, it was the sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian who finally won the election in the second round, with a total of 53.7% of the vote. A 69-year-old former heart surgeon, Pezeshkian had served as Minister of Health under President Mohammad Khatami’s second term between 2001 and 2005. He was then a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, a parliamentary institution, as deputy for the city of Tabriz.
Born into a multicultural family with an Azeri father and a Kurdish mother, the former MP supports the defence of minorities within the country in the face of discrimination. Even more notable in the current sulphurous political context, the new President has publicly condemned the repression during the Iranian revolts from 2022 and the death of Masha Amini. Finally, as regards the foreign policy advocated by the newly elected president, Pezeshkian is promoting the resumption of dialogue with Washington in order to ease the economic sanctions against Iran. . This is an issue of great importance at a time when the economic crisis is having a severe impact on the country. In a statement to the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri-Kani said: ‘His Excellency Dr. Pezeshkian, the President-elect, recently outlined his main foreign policy strategy, which aims to open up new horizons and foster friendly relations with other nations on the basis of dialogue, cooperation, equality and mutual respect’. These positions have been interpreted by some in the Western media as a sign of hope, both in terms of cleaning up the Islamic Republic’s relations with other member states, but also in terms of easing Tehran’s repressive internal system against political opponents and voices of reform.
However, in the current system where the Supreme Leader retains the majority of power in terms of foreign policy, and where the Council of Revolutionary Guards controls its application with an iron fist, the progress hoped for by optimism must be qualified. In particular, candidates for the presidential elections are screened and approved by the Revolutionary Guards Council before the elections, which means that a candidate presented as a reformer is within a certain limit, i.e. the limit tolerated by the Islamic Republic. Moreover, Masoud Pezeshkian’s positions, which are considered to be more flexible, are counterbalanced by his political history. For example, the newspaper Iran International claims that the new President is a fierce defender of the compulsory wearing of the Hijab by women, a position defended by numerous votes as a deputy in the Assembly. The classic concepts of ‘reformers’ and ‘conservatives’ used in Western countries have obvious limitations in an Islamic theocratic system, and are not sufficient to illustrate the positions of each candidate or their place on the national political chessboard.
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