2024-07-06 22:29:30
Reformist Masoud Pazkhian has won Iran’s presidential election, beating his rival, extremist Saeed Jalili, by about three million votes. Pazkhian, a heart surgeon and former health minister, won 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s roughly 13.3 million. Iranian Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to the event, saying that Iranian society had sent a clear signal of its desire for change.
“The Iranian public has sent a clear signal of its desire for change and opposition to the Ayatollah regime. The world must now declare the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization and demand that they abandon their nuclear program and stop supporting terrorist organizations. This is the only chance to bring about change,” he said.
The election went to a second round, as no candidate won more than half of the votes in the first round. The turnout was 49.8%, about 10% higher than in the first round, but still one of the lowest in Iran’s history.
Pazkhian is expected to restart nuclear talks with the West and replace the previous president, Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. During his term, he could play a key role in choosing a successor to 85-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, with Raisi himself being mentioned as a candidate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Pazkhyan, expressing hope that the new president’s actions “will contribute to strengthening bilateral cooperation in all areas and will enhance security and stability in the region,” according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
Earlier, Cursor wrote that the media assessed how the elections in Iran will affect Israel.