Reformist Pezeshkian beats hard-liner to win Iran presidential election, promising outreach to West [Video]

Iranians voted Friday in a runoff presidential election between a hard-line former nuclear negotiator and a reformist lawmaker. (AP Video / July 5, 2024)

Middle East

Hard line and reformist candidates both vote in Iranian presidential runoff

The race between hard-line Saeed Jalili and reformist Masoud Pezeshkian comes after a first round of voting saw the lowest turnout ever for an Iranian election, leaving turnout Friday a major question. Iranians began voting on Friday for a candidate to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP/ Saeed Sarmadi and Mohsen Ganji / July 5, 2024)

Reformist candidate for the Iran’s presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian clenches his fist after casting his vote as he is accompanied by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, at a polling station in Shahr-e-Qods near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iranians are voting in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a May helicopter crash in the country’s northwest along with the foreign minister and several other officials. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

By Jon Gambrell And Amir Vahdat The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic.

Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian’s modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade …

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