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Iran Elects New President
(Wall Street Journal) Benoit Faucon - The last time Masoud Pezeshkian set out to be elected president of Iran, in 2021, Iran's conservative regime barred him from running. This time, Iranian authorities allowed the 69-year-old heart surgeon and political veteran onto the ballot as the sole presidential candidate publicly committed to relaxing the country's strict moral codes regarding women and reviving dialogue with the West. He was elected on Saturday with 53% of the vote to succeed the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a May helicopter crash. That Pezeshkian was allowed to run at all indicated that the Iranian establishment considered him to be a safe choice. Iran's president is the country's No. 2 official after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader can block him, as can Parliament, leaving the president with little influence on security and military matters. During the campaign, Pezeshkian zealously pledged his loyalty to the political system and praised the late military commander Qassem Soleimani. He also made it clear he has no intention to change Iran's refusal to recognize Israel. He scheduled his victory speech to take place at the shrine of the founding leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.