Reformist Masud Pezeshkian sworn in as Iran’s new president by parliament

Jul 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The reformist Masud Pezeshkian was sworn in as president of Iran on Tuesday in a ceremony held at the Iranian Parliament after receiving ratification from the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is expected to hold the post for the next four years.

The ceremony was attended by 80 senior foreign officials, including heads of state, ministers and special representatives of third countries. Pezeshkian gave an opening speech to Iranian lawmakers, according to information collected by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

On Sunday, the president-elect was given the nod of approval by Ayatollah Khamenei, officially making him Iran’s ninth president. However, Iranian law stipulates that the new president must present his programme to parliament and present his cabinet within two weeks of taking office.

MPs will then debate whether to grant credentials to the ministers-designate for a period of one week before a vote of confidence is held to allow those chosen to secure their posts.

Pezeshkian emerged victorious in elections that ended earlier this month in the Islamic republic, a victory that marked the return to power of the reformist current after two decades of ultra-conservative governments and almost two years after the most serious protests in the country’s history following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while being detained for allegedly wearing her Islamic veil incorrectly.

The new president, who has the dual mission of convincing sceptics of his open-minded intentions and negotiating policies with the country’s reactionary parliament, nevertheless hinted during Sunday’s ceremony at a certain shift in the country’s international policy in its relations with the West, provided they perceive reciprocal gestures from their interlocutors.

Khamenei said Iran had been “mistreated in recent years” by Western states, including through sanctions that stifled its economy and oil exports, but added that it might reconsider its diplomatic priorities with the West “if they change their bad behavior.”