Moderate Pezeshkian wins Iran presidential election

6/7/2024 19:01

        Relative moderate Masoud Pezeshkian urged people on Saturday to stick with him on "the difficult road ahead" after beating a hardline rival to win Iran's presidential election.
        
        Friday's run-off vote was between Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
        Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old cardiac surgeon, has pledged to promote a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now-stalled negotiations with major powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact and improve prospects for social liberalisation and political pluralism.
        
        However many Iranians are sceptical about his ability to fulfil his campaign promises as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not the president, is the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic.