New Delhi: A reformist by reputation and a person of Azerbaijani and Kurdish descent, 69-year-old Iran President-elect Dr Masoud Pezeshkian has had a multifaceted career spanning medicine, academia and politics.
In getting elected as the head of government, Dr Pezeshkian has emerged as a reformist leader who has promised to ease hijab laws and also advocates warmer ties with the West. His election is a case of third time lucky. He ran in the 2013 presidential election, but withdrew, and ran again in the 2021 election, but was rejected. In the snap presidential election called following the tragic death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May this year, Dr Pezeshkian secured 16.3 million votes in the final round to defeat his hardline conservative rival Saeed Jalili who got 13.5 million votes.
Early life and career
Born in the Iranian city of Mahabad on September 29, 1954, to an Iranian Azerbaijani father and an Iranian Kurdish mother, Dr Pezeshkian went to the agricultural college in Urmia and received a diploma in food industry. In 1973, he moved to the city of Zabol near the Afghanistan border to serve his conscription duty.
It was during this time that he became interested in medicine. After completing his service, he returned to his home province, where he entered medical school and graduated with a degree in general medicine. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), Dr Pezeshkian frequently visited the front lines, where he was responsible for sending medical teams and working as a fighter and doctor. Dr Pezeshkian finished his general practitioner course in 1985, and started teaching physiology at medical college.
After the war, he continued his education, specialising in general surgery at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. In 1993, he received a subspecialty in cardiac surgery from Iran University of Medical Sciences. He later became a specialist in heart surgery and went on to become president of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 1994, a position he held for five years.
Entry into politics
Following the end of the imperial rule in Iran, politics in the universities of the country, especially Tabriz University, was dominated by Leftists (Communists). The students who entered the university and took the path of struggle were influenced by the economic left movement due to the prevailing atmosphere of the university at that time which was anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois. In such an environment, anyone who wanted to present himself as a fighting person and gain credit for himself had to show himself aligned with the thoughts of this group. Muslim students could not even pray in public. Student organisations were in the hands of leftist groups and the presence of religious groups in the university was weak.
It was in this environment that Dr Pezeshkian entered the University of Tabriz. Regardless of the prevailing climate, he organised classes of Quran and Nahj al-Balaghah, a key text of Shia Muslims. In this way, he could unite the Muslim students. Gradually, the number of students participating in these classes increased and the classes became particularly popular.
Dr Pezeshkian’s political journey proper began when he joined then President Mohammad Khatami’s administration as Deputy Health Minister in 1997. He was appointed Health Minister four years later, serving from 2001 to 2005. Since then, he has been elected to the Iranian parliament five times, representing Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr, the largest electoral district in the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. He also served as the First Deputy Speaker of the parliament from 2016 to 2020.
Image as a reformist
Though a supporter of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Dr Pezeshkian has been critical of the existing system in Iran multiple times. During the protests that broke out after the presidential election in 2009, he criticised the way the protesters were handled and said that “people should not be treated like a wild animal”.
During the 2018 protests by people demanding economic justice in Iran, Dr Pezeshkian said that the authorities’ method of handling the protesters was “scientifically and intellectually wrong”. When people took to the streets in 2002 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in the now world famous hijab case, he demanded the creation of an assessment and clarification team regarding the incident. A father of two sons and a daughter, Dr Pezeshkian has been vocal about women-centric issues, including the mandatory hijab and has opposed a parliamentary bill on the implementation of the Islamic dress code bill. He also strongly defended the 2015 Iran nuclear deal reached during the presidency of fellow reformist Hassan Rouhani.
Of the six candidates vetted by Iran’s Guardian Council for contesting the snap presidential election this year, Dr Pezeshkian is the only known reformist. During the presidential debates in the run-up to the polls, Dr Pezeshkian was very vocal about domestic and foreign policy issues. He indicated that he was open to diplomatic engagement with the West and was ready to initiate economic and cultural reforms. He expressed the view that Western sanctions have put off potential trade partners from engaging with Iran. Dr Pezeshkian’s candidacy was supported by former reformist politicians and ministers, including Javad Zarif who served as foreign minister under Rouhani.
However, the fact of the matter is that reforms in Iran’s context should be seen within the narrow limits of religious demarcation. Iranian authorities do not discourage hardliners in the political discourse. As such, Dr Pezeshkian will have to stick to the minimum objectives of his reformist agenda.
In fact, Dr Pezeshkian is not the first reformist to become the President of Iran. Khattami, under whom Dr Pezeshkian served as Health Minister, was a reformist. So was Rouhani who served as President from 2013 to 2021.
According to R Dayakar, former Indian Ambassador to Iraq and Jordan who also served in the West Asia desk of the Ministry of External Affairs, Dr Pezeshkian’s election shows the popular mood in Iran for reforms.
“However, reforms in the Iranian context however imply progressive changes in social and cultural domains rather than political arena,” Dayakar told ETV Bharat. “The well-entrenched conservatives will not allow space for reforms easily. Dr Pezeshkian should calibrate his urge for reforms carefully so as not to tread on the toes of hardline conservatives. Between his minimum and maximum objectives on the reform front, he would best confine himself to the former.”
The President of Iran, from whichever camp he or she comes from, can only set the tone for Iranian policies. It is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say in all policy matters.
India-Iran relations under Dr Pezeshkian
According to Dayakar, Dr Pezeshkian’s election will impact positively on India-Iran relations. “His reputation as a reformist is likely to lessen Western hostility towards Iran under his presidentship,” he said. “This also augurs well for Indo-Iranian relations.”
Dayakar pointed out that India and Iran have civilisational ties regardless of who is the President of the West Asian nation. “Dr Pezeshkian’s election would not affect the complexion of India-Iran relationship because it has its own continuity and momentum,” he said.
However, New Delhi will keep watching Dr Pezeshkian’s policies and approach towards regional security. Like other Iranian leaders, whether reformists or hardliners, Dr Pezeshkian is known for his anti-Zionist stand. Amidst the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, India is maintaining a careful balancing act and Dr Pezeshkian’s approach will be of particular interest for New Delhi.
Iran is also a major supplier of crude oil to India. Given the ongoing Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars that has sparked geopolitical instability, India will have to depend on Iran more than ever for supply of cheap crude oil.
India is also investing heavily in the Chabahar port in Iran, a vital cog in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC). Dr Pezeshkian’s predecessor Raisi had supported India in this endeavour. It now remains to be seen whether Dr Pezeshkian will maintain continuity in Tehran’s approach.
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