Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has won the Iranian presidential run-off election. During the campaign, he called for more dialogue with the West.
Iran’s Interior Ministry announced that Pezeshkian defeated hardline conservative Saeed Jalili. The snap election was held after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.
Pezeshkian is a former deputy parliamentary speaker and health minister. He says he wants to improve relations with the United States and Europe, so they lift sanctions on Iran.
He is expected to change Raisi’s hardline diplomatic policy.
But it remains unclear to what extent relations with the West will improve, since the Iranian government has to follow its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in important policies.