What does reformist Masoud Pezeshkian’s election win mean for Iran’s future?  

Special What does reformist Masoud Pezeshkian’s election win mean for Iran’s future?  
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Newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian surrounded by supporters, main, outside a polling station in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Iran's newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian is greeted during his visit to the shrine of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 07 July 2024
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What does reformist Masoud Pezeshkian’s election win mean for Iran’s future?  

What does reformist Masoud Pezeshkian’s election win mean for Iran’s future?  
  • Heart surgeon and former MP will be Islamic Republic’s first reformist Iranian president since 2005
  • The election witnessed record low voter turnout with less than half of eligible voters casting their ballots

ATHENS, Greece: Iran reformist Masoud Pezeshkian’s victory over his hardline rival Saeed Jalili in the country’s presidential runoff on Saturday offers Iranians desperate for change a sliver of hope, according to political observers.

While many Iranians are too disillusioned with their government to feel optimistic, some believe Pezeshkian’s win points to the possibility of reform in the midst of economic turmoil, corruption, and crackdowns on dissent.

The first round of elections began on June 28, just over a month after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash.





Newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gestures during a visit to the shrine of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on July 6, 2024.(AFP)

However, the election failed to generate more than 50 percent of votes for any candidate, with the lowest turnout since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Videos circulating on social media platforms, including X, showed almost empty polling stations across the country.

“How can you, while holding a sword, gallows, weapons, and prisons against the people with one hand, place a ballot box in front of the same people with the other hand, and deceitfully and falsely call them to the polls?” Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned Iranian human rights activist and Nobel laureate, said in a statement from Evin Prison.


BIO

  • Name: Masoud Pezeshkian
  • Year of birth: 1954
  • City of birth: Mahabad, Iran
  • Occupation: Heart surgeon

The underwhelming turnout is part of a trend that began four years ago with the country’s 2020 parliamentary election, according to Ali Vaez, Iran Project director at the International Crisis Group (ICG).

“This clearly shows that the majority of the Iranian people have given up on the ballot box as a viable vehicle for change,” he told Arab News.

“The head-to-head between Jalili and Pezeshkian in the second round was a contest between two opposite ends of the spectrum acceptable to the system: Jalili’s hard-line, ideological approach and Pezeshkian’s moderate, liberal stance created intense polarization, seemingly driving a higher voter turnout. Jalili embodies confrontational foreign policy and restrictive social policies, while Pezeshkian advocates for moderate reforms and diplomatic engagement.”




Iran's presidential election candidate Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator, casts his vote for the presidential runoff election at a polling station in Qarchak near Tehran on July 5, 2024. (AP)

Political analysts voiced cautious optimism in the wake of Pezeshkian’s victory.

“Pezeshkian prevailed in an election where just 50 percent of voters went to the polls. He lacks the mandate enjoyed by Iran’s previous reform-minded presidents. But boycotting is what made his candidacy possible,” Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder and CEO of the UK-based Bourse & Bazaar Foundation think tank, said on X on Saturday.




Iranian expatriates in Kuwait cast their votes at the Gulf country’s embassy in a closely watched presidential election. (AFP)

“Both voters and non-voters had an influence on this remarkable outcome. The turnout was high enough to push Pezeshkian into office, but low enough to deny the (Iranian regime) legitimacy and to maintain political pressure for more significant change.”

Some Iranians have said that while they do not have any great expectations for Pezeshkian’s governance, their decision to vote for him was motivated by the desire for change, however small.




A woman casts her vote for the presidential election in a polling station at the shrine of Saint Saleh in northern Tehran on July 5, 2024. (AP) 

“The reason for my vote is not that I have any special hopes for his government, no. I voted because I believe that society’s explosive desire for change is now so strong and ready to erupt that even if a small opportunity is provided, society itself … will change many things for the better,” Iranian journalist and Sadra Mohaqeq, who voted for Pezeshkian, said on Friday.

Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon whose political career includes a tenure as the Iranian health minister, will be the first reformist to assume the office of president in Iran since 2005. His promises include efforts to improve relations with the West and a relaxation of Iran’s mandatory headscarf law.

With both Azeri and Kurdish roots, he also supports the rights of minorities in Iran. Minority groups often bore the brunt of state-sanctioned violence in the wake of the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in police custody. 




Supporters hold portraits of Iran's newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian visits the shrine of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)

After Amini’s death, Pezeshkian said that it was “unacceptable in the Islamic Republic to arrest a girl for her hijab and then hand over her dead body to her family.”

However, just days later, amid nationwide protests and brutal crackdowns by the government, he warned protesters against “insulting the supreme leader.” For even the most optimistic of Iran observers, it is clear that Pezeshkian still answers to the country’s head of state.

“Despite being a reformist, Pezeshkian is loyal to the supreme leader of Iran, and reformists in Iran generally cannot pursue reforms that challenge the vision, goals, and values of the Islamic Revolution. The ultimate authority doesn’t rest with President-elect Pezeshkian but with (Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei,” Mohammed Albasha, senior Middle East analyst for the US-based Navanti Group, told Arab News.




Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei votes during the presidential election in Tehran, on July 5, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/Handout via REUTERS)

Furthermore, even if Pezeshkian proves willing to strongly push for reforms, the Iranian political environment is still dominated by hardliners.

Vaez said: “Given Pezeshkian’s relatively low votes, the continued conservative dominance of other state institutions, and the limits of presidential authority, Pezeshkian will face an uphill battle in securing the greater social and cultural rights at home and diplomatic engagement abroad he’s emphasized in debates and on the campaign trail.”

While Pezeshkian has expressed support for domestic reforms and improved international relations, he has also voiced his unequivocal support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He has condemned the former Trump administration’s decision to label the IRGC as a terrorist organization and has worn the IRGC uniform in public meetings. 

Opinion

This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)

It is unclear how Pezeshkian will reconcile a desire for ties with the West with his views, particularly given that the IRGC has been designated as a terrorist group by the US, Sweden, and Canada.

An increased push for improved ties with the West may also draw the ire of the Islamic Republic’s strongest military and economic allies, such as China and Russia. 

However, Pezeshkian may not have much choice in the matter, regardless of his own aspirations.

“The president in Tehran is primarily responsible for implementing the daily agenda, not setting it. Nuclear policy, regional alliances, and relations with the West are dictated by the supreme leader and the Revolutionary Guard,” the Navanti Group’s Albasha said.




This handout picture taken on November 19, 2023, shows Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with Hossein Salami (center), head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the corps' aerospace division, (R) during a visit at the IRGC aerospace achievement exhibition in Tehran. (KHAMENEI.IR handout/ AFP)

Though not the head of state, Pezeshkian will undoubtedly have some influence over Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, as well as economic policy.

The government of Iran’s last reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, was characterized by some liberalization, including freedom of expression, a free market economy, and improved diplomatic relations with other countries.

Only time will tell how much change Pezeshkian is willing, or able, to bring about.

Pezeshkian’s election win is not a turning point, ICG’s Vaez said, but “another twist in the complex political dynamics of a system that remains split between those who want the 1979 revolution to mellow and those who want it to remain permanent.”
 

 


Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Updated 12 sec ago
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Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments
CAIRO: Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.
The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.

Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation
Updated 10 min 57 sec ago
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Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian woman was killed in Nur Shams in the West Bank as part of an expanded Israeli army operation in the occupied territory.

The Israeli army said they expanded the military operation to Nur Shams, a Palestinian refugee camp east of Tulkarm, and that its forces had killed several “militants” and detained wanted individuals in the area, a military spokesperson said on Sunday.

The Palestinian Health ministry said Sunday that a woman was killed and her husband injured by Israeli gunfire in Tulkarm. 

Israeli military, police and intelligence services launched a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin in the West Bank on January 21.

It is described by Israeli officials as a “large-scale and significant military operation”. 

(with Reuters)


Hamas frees three Israeli hostages in fifth Gaza exchange

Hamas frees three Israeli hostages in fifth Gaza exchange
Updated 09 February 2025
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Hamas frees three Israeli hostages in fifth Gaza exchange

Hamas frees three Israeli hostages in fifth Gaza exchange
  • Exchange takes place ahead of negotiations on next phase of ceasefire between Hamas, Israel
  • Hamas has so far freed 21 hostages in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners

DEIR EL-BALAH, Palestinian Territories: Israel and Hamas completed their fifth hostage-prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal on Saturday, with the frail, disoriented appearance of the three freed Israelis sparking dismay among their relatives.

Out of the 183 inmates released by Israel in return, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalization, decrying “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.
The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month comes as negotiations were set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which should pave the way for a permanent end to the war.

FASTFACT

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government on Friday to stick with the ceasefire.

Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi, who were all seized by militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, “crossed the border into Israeli territory” on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Jubilant crowds in Israel’s commercial hub, Tel Aviv, cheered as they watched live footage of the three hostages, flanked by masked gunmen, brought on stage in Deir El-Balah before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
But the joy at their release was quickly overtaken by concern for their condition, with all three appearing thin and pale.
Sharabi’s cousin Yochi Sardinayof said “he doesn’t look well.”
“I’m sure he will now receive the right treatment and get stronger ... He has an amazing family, and we will all be there for him.”
The choreographed handover included forced statements from the three on stage, in which they stated support for finalizing the subsequent phases of the Israel-Hamas truce.
Sharabi, 52, and Ben Ami, a 56-year-old dual German citizen, were both abducted from their homes in kibbutz Beeri when militants stormed the small community near the Gaza border.
Sharabi lost his wife and two daughters in the attack.

Palestinians gather around a stage being prepared ahead of the hand over to the Red Cross of three Israeli hostages by Hamas in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP)

Levy was abducted from the Nova music festival, where gunmen murdered his wife.
In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, relatives and supporters gathered to welcome inmates released by Israel, embracing them and cheering as they stepped off the bus that brought them from nearby Ofer prison.
Israel’s prison service said that “183 terrorists ... were released” to the West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group and the Palestinian Red Crescent said that seven of them had been admitted to hospital in the West Bank.
“All the prisoners who were released today need medical care ... as a result of the brutality they were subjected” to in jail, said the advocacy group, which has long decried abuses of Palestinians in Israeli custody.
Hamas, in a statement, accused Israel of “systematic assaults and mistreatment of our prisoners,” calling it “part of the policy of ... the slow killing of prisoners.”
Gaza militants have so far freed 21 hostages in exchange for hundreds of mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Five Thai hostages freed last week from Gaza were discharged on Saturday from a hospital in central Israel, where they had been treated since their release, and were headed back to their home country.
The ceasefire aims to secure the release of 12 more hostages during its first 42-day phase.
Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government on Friday to stick with the truce.
“An entire nation demands to see the hostages return home,” the Israeli campaign group said in a statement.
“Now is the time to ensure the agreement is completed — until the very last one,” it added.
Netanyahu’s office said that after Saturday’s swap, an Israeli delegation would head to Doha for further talks.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 48,181 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.
The confirmed number of dead published by the ministry has continued to rise daily as bodies are discovered under the rubble, victims are identified or people die from wounds sustained earlier in the war.
Over the last 48 hours, 26 deaths have been recorded and more than 570 earlier deaths had been confirmed, according to the ministry.
It said a total of 111,638 people have been wounded during the war, which began in October 2023.
A study published in early January in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated the death toll in Gaza due to hostilities during the first nine months of the war was about 40-percent higher than the figures recorded by the Gaza Health Ministry.

 


President Aoun, PM Salam form Lebanon government

President Aoun, PM Salam form Lebanon government
Updated 09 February 2025
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President Aoun, PM Salam form Lebanon government

President Aoun, PM Salam form Lebanon government
  • Cabinet of 24 Lebanon ministers is split evenly between Christian and Muslim members
  • Lebanon remains in throes of a crippling economic crisis which is now in its sixth year

BEIRUT: Twenty-six days after Nawaf Salam was assigned to form a Lebanese government, the decrees for its formation were announced on Saturday from the Presidential Palace.

President Joseph Aoun accepted the resignation of Najib Mikati’s government.

The Council of Ministers is scheduled to hold its first session at the Presidential Palace next Tuesday.

In a speech after announcing the formation of the government, Salam said he hoped that “it would be a government of reform and salvation, because reform is the only way for Lebanon to rise.”

He added: “With President Aoun, we launch the workshop to build a new Lebanon.”

He said that “the diversity of ministers’ names will not hinder the function of government, and no government formation will satisfy everyone. We will work in a unified manner. I am keeping in mind the establishment of a state of law and institutions, and we are laying the foundations for reform and rescue. There is no room to turn back time, and we must begin work immediately.

“The government will have to work with parliament to complete the implementation of the Taif Agreement and proceed with financial and economic reforms.

“The government will be a place for constructive joint work and not for disputes. I am determined to lay the foundations for reform and rescue in cooperation with President Aoun.”

Salam continued: “This government will strive to restore trust and bridge the gap between the state and the aspirations of the youth. It must work toward the full implementation of the Taif Agreement, proceed with financial and economic reforms, and establish an independent judiciary.”

He emphasized the importance of “ensuring security and stability in Lebanon by completing the implementation of Resolution 1701.”

He said: “It is difficult for any government formation to satisfy everyone. However, the government will endeavor to be cohesive, and diversity will not serve as a source of obstruction to its work, nor will it provide a platform for narrow interests.”

The government included Tarek Mitri as deputy prime minister, Michel Menassa as defense minister, Ahmad Hajjar as interior minister, Youssef Raji as foreign minister, Yassine Jaber as finance minister, Ghassan Salameh as culture minister, Laura Khazen Lahoud as tourism minister, Kamal Chehade as minister of displaced persons and artificial intelligence, Nora Bayrakdarian as minister of sports and youth, Rima Karami as education minister, Adel Nassar as justice minister, Rakan Nasser Eldine as health minister, Mohammed Haidar as labor minister, Joseph Sadi as energy minister, Amir Bisat as economy minister, Charles Hajj as telecommunications minister, Joe Issa El-Khoury as industry minister, Fayez Rasamny as public works minister, Nizar El-Hani as agriculture minister, Fadi Makki as minister of administrative development, Tamara Zein as environment minister, Hanin Sayyed as social affairs minister and Paul Marcos as information minister.

Salam’s government during Aoun’s presidency has broken the norms established by Hezbollah and its allies over three terms, which dictated that the government be composed of direct party representatives and that Hezbollah maintain a significant influence capable of obstructing decisions at every critical political or security juncture.

A technocratic government has been formed, one that is widely acknowledged and uncontested by political parties.

Despite pressure from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement over the past few weeks to form a government similar to its predecessor, both the president and the prime minister-designate stood firm. As a result, they eventually formed a government that reflects the reformist spirit expressed in Aoun’s oath speech.

The new government has no members affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement, but it does have representatives close to the Lebanese Forces Party.

Notably, it includes five women, and for the first time, a ministerial portfolio has been dedicated to artificial intelligence.

The government consists of 24 ministers. Its formation was delayed from Friday to Saturday due to disagreements over Shiite representation.

At noon on Saturday, Salam presented three candidates to the Presidential Palace for selection to fill the fifth Shiite seat in the administrative development portfolio.

Fadi Makki, former adviser to Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2002, was chosen.

Makki is known for pioneering the application of behavioral economics in public policy across the Middle East.

The announcement of the new government coincided with the conclusion of the two-day visit by US deputy envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, who held discussions with several Lebanese officials.

Ortagus’s statement at the Presidential Palace on Friday caught many by surprise, when she said: “The US expresses its gratitude to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah. Hezbollah must not be part of the government in any way. It must remain demilitarized and militarily defeated.”

According to Salam’s office, Ortagus met him and reaffirmed “the US support for Lebanon in this new era and government.”

Salam emphasized to Ortagus the need for “international pressure to ensure Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories by the Feb. 18 deadline. This withdrawal must occur without delay or procrastination, in full compliance with international resolutions.”

Ortagus also met the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri. Notably, during this meeting, she was not wearing the Star of David ring she had worn during her earlier meeting with the president on Friday.

While Ortagus did not make a statement, Berri’s media office reiterated that “Israel’s continued occupation of Lebanese territories necessitates our resistance.”

In a separate development, Israeli forces continued to demolish homes in villages along the southern border.

Meanwhile, for a third consecutive day, deadly clashes intensified in north-east Lebanon along the Syrian border and in villages straddling Lebanese and Syrian territories.

On Friday, Aoun held a phone conversation with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa. They both agreed to coordinate efforts to control the situation on the Lebanese-Syrian border and prevent civilian casualties.

The border town of Jarmash was targeted by missiles and drones, while additional missiles landed near the Lebanese town of Qasr, leaving one civilian seriously injured.

After the shelling of the border area, the Lebanese Red Cross transported eight wounded people to hospitals in Hermel.

The Lebanese town of Qanafez, on the northern border of Hermel, was hit by artillery shelling from the Qusayr countryside, breaking a night of relative calm.

Armed clansmen intercepted and shot down three Shaheen drones over the northern border villages of Hermel, after they were launched from Syrian territory.

According to the Lebanese National News Agency, they also destroyed a tank in the town of Jarmash.

Lebanese media reports indicated that 10 members of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were killed, while three others were captured in the aftermath of the clashes.

The clashes broke out last Thursday when forces aligned with the new Syrian administration advanced on the border town of Hawik as part of a sweeping operation to “seal off smuggling routes for weapons and contraband.”


Real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, Trump’s man in the Middle East

Real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, Trump’s man in the Middle East
Updated 09 February 2025
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Real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, Trump’s man in the Middle East

Real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, Trump’s man in the Middle East
  • Though a complete neophyte in the world of diplomacy, Witkoff was named as special envoy to the Middle East only a week after Trump’s election, a reflection of the two men’s close relationship
  • “And this guy knows real estate,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, appearing alongside the special envoy, said with a smile

WASHINGTON: He has no foreign policy experience but sports a reputation as a talented negotiator unafraid to speak his mind. And Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has already made his mark.
A close friend to the US president, 67-year-old real estate magnate Witkoff is credited with playing a key role in negotiating the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas armed group.
The truce took effect January 19, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration for a second term in the White House.
This week, Witkoff found himself in the spotlight, defending the US president’s stunning suggestion that he wanted to “take over” the Gaza Strip and move its two million Palestinian inhabitants elsewhere.
“When the president talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable, and this is a long-range plan,” Witkoff told reporters at the White House just ahead of a joint news conference by Trump and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“And this guy knows real estate,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, appearing alongside the special envoy, said with a smile.
Speaking later that day on Fox News, Witkoff continued laying out the administration’s justification for the notion of a large-scale relocation of Palestinians from Gaza — even as the idea drew fire in the region, with some calling it tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
“A better life is not necessarily tied to the physical space that you’re in today,” he said, seeming to gloss over the complexities of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump had nothing but praise for Witkoff at the White House news conference.
“Steve, stand up, Steve, please. What a job you’ve done. Quite a good job. You’ve done a fantastic job,” he said.
It was Witkoff, a billionaire like his friend and a regular golfing partner of his, who was called on to introduce the new president at a celebratory gathering at a Washington arena following his January 20 inauguration.

Though a complete neophyte in the world of diplomacy, Witkoff was named as special envoy to the Middle East only a week after Trump’s election, a reflection of the two men’s close relationship.
Eight years earlier, after Trump was elected for his first term, he named another diplomatic novice — his son-in-law Jared Kushner — to the same position.
Even before Trump took office, Witkoff joined in the Gaza ceasefire talks, taking part in a final round of negotiations in early January alongside Brett McGurk, the Middle East adviser to then-president Joe Biden.
It was a rare collaboration between an outgoing and incoming US administration.
After attending the talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, Witkoff flew to Israel on a Saturday — interrupting Netanyahu on the Jewish Sabbath — in an urgent bid to finalize an agreement.
Then on January 29, Witkoff traveled to Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble after 15 months of an Israeli offensive launched in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
He was the first US official to visit the territory since the war began.
In an article published Thursday by Foreign Policy journal, Steven Cook, an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Witkoff’s lack of diplomatic experience could be an advantage, giving him a fresh perspective.
Still, he added: “The Israel-Palestine conflict is not a real estate deal.”
Born on March 15, 1957, in the New York borough of the Bronx, Witkoff made his fortune in real estate, first as a corporate lawyer and then at the head of big realty firms.
In 1997, he founded the Witkoff Group, which describes itself as “one part developer, one part investor (and) one part landscape-changer.” His wife and a son work there.
A graduate of Hofstra University near New York, Witkoff has several children, including one who died in 2011, aged 22, from an OxyContin overdose.