Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Masud Pezeshkian as the new president on July 28 and instructed him to focus on cultivating relations with Iran’s neighbors rather than Western nations.
The endorsement, known in the vernacular as tanfeez, means Pezeshkian’s tenure as president has officially started, despite not being sworn in until July 30.
The televised ceremony was held in Tehran and attended by senior military and political figures as well as foreign diplomats.
In his decree, Khamenei described Pezeshkian as a “wise, honest, popular, and scholarly” individual.
A heart surgeon by training, reformist Pezeshkian is a former health minister and multiterm lawmaker who was elected president earlier this month in a snap election held after the death of hard-line president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
The first round of voting on June 28 had voter participation of 39 percent -- a record-low turnout for a presidential election in the history of the Islamic republic. The runoff vote on July 5, which saw Pezeshkian face off against ultraconservative candidate Saeed Jalili, saw the turnout rise to around 49 percent.
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Iran's New Reformist President Unlikely To Bring Major Policy Shifts
Khamenei, who is Iran’s highest religious and political authority and has final say on all state matters, said the foreign policy of Pezeshkian’s government should prioritize “states that have supported Iran throughout these years in the face of pressure both inside and outside the United Nations.”
These countries, he said, include Iran’s neighbors as well as African and Asian nations.
“I don't say European countries are a priority in our foreign policy because of their bad conduct concerning issues like the sanctions and oil,” the 85-year-old supreme leader said.
“They’ll become a priority if they set aside their bad conduct. Of course, we’ll never forget the hostile conduct of some countries.”
Iran has long accused European powers of failing to deliver on their commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal after the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions targeting Iran’s economy and oil sectors. Iran has since scaled back its own commitments and expanded its nuclear program.
In his address after the endorsement, Pezeshkian spoke of the “need to reform” but added that he would strive to “implement the supreme leader’s general policies.”
France-based political commentator Mohammad Javad Akbarin told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the ceremony showed that the new president is “subservient” to the supreme leader.
“The leader of the Islamic republic will not have a problem controlling [Pezeshkian],” he said.
In his first two decrees after taking office, Pezeshkian named veteran reformist politician Mohammad Reza Aref as his first vice-president and Mohsen Haji-Mirzaei as his chief of staff.
A former lawmaker, Aref previously served as first vice-president in 2001-2005 under Iran’s last reformist president Mohammad Khatami.
Haji-Mirzaei was Iran’s education minister in 2019-2021 in the final two years of moderate former president Hassan Rohani’s tenure.