Newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, proper, takes the oath of workplace as Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi listens throughout a ceremony at parliament in Tehran, Iran, on Aug. 30, 2024. | Photograph credit score: AP
Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was sworn in on July 30, after successful an election earlier this month on a promise to enhance relations with the world and ease restrictions on social freedoms at dwelling.
“We’ll search constructive and efficient interplay with the world primarily based on dignity, knowledge and expediency,” Pezeshkian, a relative reasonable, advised a parliamentary session attended by overseas dignitaries and broadcast stay on state tv.
His victory has raised hopes of a thaw in Iran’s antagonistic relations with the West that would create alternatives to defuse its nuclear standoff with world powers.
However Pezeshkian takes workplace at a time of rising tensions within the Center East over Israel’s battle with Hamas in Gaza and cross-border preventing with Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
See: Profile | Masoud Pezeshkian, the brand new president of Iran
Iran, which helps teams describing themselves because the “Axis of Resistance” to Israel and US affect within the Center East, has accused the US of supporting what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza.
“Those that provide weapons that kill youngsters can not train humanity to Muslims,” Pezeshkian mentioned amid chants of “Dying to America” and “Dying to Israel.”
The ceremony was attended by leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Iran’s Palestinian allies, in addition to senior representatives of the Tehran-backed Houthi motion in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Pezeshkian is anticipated to call his cupboard inside two weeks, changing hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in Might.
Because the supreme authority in Iran, Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the ultimate say on all issues of state, together with overseas and nuclear coverage.
He should additionally approve Pezeshkian’s picks for key cupboard posts, resembling overseas, oil and intelligence ministers.
Along with mounting Western strain over Tehran’s quickly advancing nuclear program, Pezeshkian faces the daunting activity of liberating Iran from crippling U.S. sanctions, reimposed after Washington deserted a 2015 nuclear cope with main powers.
Oblique talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear cope with six main powers have been stalled since 2022, with each side accusing one another of constructing unreasonable calls for.
“My authorities won’t ever succumb to intimidation and strain… Stress and sanctions don’t work… and the Iranian folks have to be spoken to with respect,” Pezeshkian mentioned.
