Masoud Pezeshkian takes oath as President of Iran

Masoud Pezeshkian has taken oath as the President of Iran.

Reformist leader Pezeshkian had defeated hardliner leader Saeed Jalili in the Iranian presidential election earlier this month.

Pezeshkian was sworn in Tuesday as the President of Iran in the parliament at a ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries.

“I as the president, in front of the Holy Koran and the people of Iran, swear to almighty God to be the guardian of the official religion and the Islamic Republic system and the constitution of the country,” said Pezeshkian in the ceremony, as per AFP.

Of the six candidates approved by the Guardian Council to contest the elections, Pezeshkian was the only reformist and the rest were all hardliners. Three of the hardliners were from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the highly influential armed force of Iran that’s separate from the regular military and reports directly to the Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The IRGC is the Supreme Leader’s sword-arm.

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In Iran, all key decisions are taken by the Supreme Leader and policies are set by him, but implementation of these decisions and policies is the domain of the government headed by the president. This means that while there will not be a major change with reformist Pezeshkian’s swearing-in, the style of governance and international engagement of Iran may see a evolve to some extent.

In an earlier interview, Iran scholar Deepika Saraswat further said that Pezeshkian’s campaign focused on rights of women, Iran’s ethnic minorities, border areas, and fostering greater unity in the country. This means while there may not be a substantial shift on mandatory hijab rule, there may be renewal of a reformist agenda of incremental reforms in social and cultural issues.

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“The Iranian president can channel the aspirations and demands of the people. Pezeshkian, like any president, can be a vehicle for advancing those aspirations. In the past, reformist and moderate presidents have acted as pressure groups to negotiate with the more conservative establishment,” says Saraswat, a scholar of Iran at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA).

Since the Guardian Council which approves presidential candidates is appointed by the Supreme Leader, the fact that a reformist like Pezeshkian was allowed to run is telltale of the direction that Khamenei wants for Iran.

Pezeshkian’s approval as a candidate and subsequent election comes at a time when the Iranian regime remains insecure about internal stability which was shaken by nationwide monthslong protests in 2022-23 in the wake of the custodial killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman accused of violating the hijab rules. Therefore, allowing Pezeshkian —a reformist— to be the president means the regime may be looking to placate the domestic audience. Diversifying the pool of candidates with a bunch of hardliners, IRGC veterans, and a reformist also gives the elections a dash of legitimacy.

A relatively diverse pool of candidates brings some democratic competition, possibly generating participation from the reformist constituency and undecided voters. A higher turnout boosts the legitimacy of the system, said Saraswat to Firstpsot in the earlier interview.