Tehran, Iran – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is now a month and a half into workplace, in some of the eventful and tumultuous preliminary phrases for a president because the nation’s 1979 revolution.
Over the previous seven weeks, Iran has needed to cope with rising tensions with Israel – it has even thought of a retaliatory strike – amid ongoing efforts to realize a ceasefire in Gaza. Pezeshkian has additionally confronted various home political challenges.
The president instructed native and international reporters throughout his first information convention on Monday that the world should cease the “genocide” Israel is perpetrating in Gaza as he known as for unity among the many Muslim world and denied sending hypersonic ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthis a day after one of many projectiles landed in central Israel.
Here is a rundown of how Pezeshkian has fared to this point:
What has occurred since Pezeshkian took workplace?
Hours after Pezeshkian raised the hand of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh throughout his inauguration within the Iranian parliament, Haniyeh was killed by a missile in northern Tehran on July 31.
The president and different prime political and army officers have blamed Israel and vowed to avenge the Palestinian chief, however have to this point shunned combating again amid considerations {that a} large-scale Iranian response may result in an all-out regional battle.
Iran has additionally mentioned it’ll calibrate and time its retaliation in methods that don’t jeopardize prospects for a ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more and more seen, even by some segments of Israeli society, as an impediment to peace, and just lately confronted the most important anti-government protests in Israel since October. Nevertheless, Netanyahu and a few of his allies have sought guilty Hamas and different Iranian allies, together with Hezbollah and the Houthis, for the regional tensions.
The president launched into his first international journey final week, visiting senior officers in Baghdad and Erbil, two neighboring Iraqi cities. He’ll journey to New York later this month to handle the United Nations Basic Meeting.
As an alternative, Pezeshkian has centered on home politics, the place he can declare a key victory: his full record of cupboard ministers was accredited by parliament, a primary since 2001, though that success was not with out controversy.
Is Pezeshkian getting ready for battle?
The Iranian president has offered himself as a average determine who sticks carefully to the institution management in necessary choices, though he additionally boasts ties to extra reformist voices, whose affect has waned in recent times.
Pezeshkian has vowed to avenge Haniyeh and has proven dedication to Iran’s decades-long help for the Palestinian trigger. He has backed army motion towards Israel in conferences with senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian army.
However he has additionally promised to deliver better stability and finish Iran’s financial isolation by working to carry U.S. sanctions and move monetary transparency legal guidelines. These are targets that can not be achieved if Iran engages militarily in a regional escalation amid the rising fallout from the battle in Gaza.
Final week, the USA and its European allies formally accused Iran of sending short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to be used within the Ukraine battle. Tehran continues to disclaim arming Russia within the battle. The deal to ship the missiles would have been signed in late 2023, earlier than Pezeshkian’s presidency, however his authorities should cope with Western sanctions on the Iranian-flagged passenger aircraft and different restrictions.
Why did the president’s cupboard trigger a stir?
Pezeshkian has additionally been examined on the nationwide degree.
He was extensively believed to have little or no probability of turning into president when he registered as a candidate, however rapidly noticed his political reputation rise due to the help of marginalized reformers and moderates, together with former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami.
He made reformist guarantees to enhance the financial system and management runaway inflation, refraining from utilizing drive whereas addressing the contentious subject of necessary veiling for girls, opening up the extremely restricted web panorama and making voters really feel heard. The necessary hijab coverage for girls sparked nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023.
Pezeshkian’s group, headed by former Overseas Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, has arrange a council with working teams to pick the perfect candidates for ministerial posts. Being younger, a lady or a member of a spiritual or ethnic minority would considerably enhance candidates’ possibilities, Zarif promised on nationwide tv.
So when Pezeshkian offered a cupboard that included a number of names from earlier governments and hardline political factions that didn’t meet these standards, it dismayed lots of those that supported him in an election marked by unprecedented voter apathy. Voter turnout was lower than 50 %.
Of the 19 ministers, three have been from the federal government of the late President Ebrahim Raisi, notably Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib. 5 have been ministers in Rouhani’s authorities and two have been members of the conservative-dominated parliament.
The selection of Eskandar Momeni for Inside Minister, a army and police commander, was maybe probably the most controversial due to his army expertise, his affinity with conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and his previous feedback on the necessity to implement necessary hijab guidelines.
The 2 youngest ministers, together with the second-youngest girl because the 1979 revolution, are each 47 years previous. The common age of the cupboard is near 60. There aren’t any representatives of non secular minorities among the many ministers, though there are some among the many deputies.
The response was so robust that Pezeshkian himself needed to react, urging Iranians in a publish on X to “look forward to the cupboard to operate after which criticize it based mostly on its efficiency.”
Zarif, who was rewarded with a “deputy to the president for strategic affairs” publish invented for him for fervently championing Pezeshkian’s trigger throughout his marketing campaign, resigned after the cupboard presentation. After the president personally known as him to dissuade him, Zarif mentioned he by no means regretted selecting Pezeshkian and would stay in his publish.
What influenced the choices of Pezeshkian’s cupboard?
Pezeshkian got down to type a “nationwide unity” authorities that he mentioned would stay devoted to the supreme chief’s priorities and choose representatives from totally different political factions.
After profitable the presidency, he known as on his opponents within the race to additionally announce their cupboard candidates.
However the president raised eyebrows when he addressed parliament in a speech to defend the nominees and mentioned Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei had personally accredited the record of candidates.
“I wish to let you know that we coordinated earlier than coming right here. Settle for it. Why are you making me say issues I don’t wish to say?” Pezeshkian requested. “Don’t make me go into particulars. Simply vote and allow us to type a authorities.”
Keyhan, a each day whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Khamenei, criticized the president in an editorial for presenting an “incomplete narrative” that was abused by international media to assert that the supreme chief units coverage and that the federal government has no actual authority.
After the scandal, Khamenei mentioned Pezeshkian “consulted” him on the cupboard.
“I confirmed some and confused others. Most of them I didn’t know and had no touch upon,” the supreme chief mentioned.
What do the cupboard picks present?
To steer the Overseas Ministry, Pezeshkian chosen Abbas Araghchi, a profession diplomat who has been a number one determine in talks with the West over the previous decade and was instrumental in reaching Iran’s 2015 nuclear cope with world powers, which stays in limbo after the unilateral U.S. withdrawal in 2018.
Araghchi has mentioned Tehran is keen to carry additional talks with the West however will prioritize actions over phrases. In an interview on nationwide tv on Sunday night, he confused that Pezeshkian’s authorities will on the identical time pursue a coverage of “limitless help” for the “axis of resistance” of Iran-aligned political and army teams throughout the area.
Momeni, the inside minister, has expertise in regulation enforcement’s anti-narcotics division and is believed to have been chosen partly to assist handle numerous migrants who’ve arrived in Iran from neighbouring Afghanistan because the Taliban takeover in 2021. His appointment comes after police chief Ahmadreza Radan vowed to expel two million undocumented migrants by March.
Protection Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, a former fighter pilot and air drive commander, has vowed to bolster Iran’s air defenses, develop extra satellite tv for pc carriers, construct extra warships and use extra drones. Whereas Iran denies accusations that it offered Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, the minister has additionally promised to a minimum of double army exports over the following 4 years.