Iran’s Nuclear Solution to the Israel-Hamas Conflict, the Chopper Collision, and the Troubles in the Middle East
After years of economic turmoil, mass protests and tension in the Middle East, Iranians voted Friday to replace the President killed in a chopper crash, in a contest that has become the most watched political event in the country.
Voters face a choice between the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime parliament member who has allied himself with moderates and reformists within Iran’s Shiite theocracy.
Potential voters in Iran appear to have decided not to participate in last week’s election despite calls for a boycott, because there is no widely accepted opposition movement outside of the country.
The vote itself won’t be monitored by international monitors because women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot.
The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel in April over the conflict in Gaza, which was followed by other attacks from militia groups that Tehran arms in the region.
Iran still has a large enough amount of enriched uranium and several nuclear weapons to build several if it chooses to do so. Its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, reached by officials now backing Pezeshkian, collapsed in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. Hard-liners have taken control of Iran’s government in the time since.
While Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend the country’s policies toward confrontation or negotiation with the West.
Khamenei drops the ballot: A case for relaunching the “Taliban” campaign in Iran, as warned by Jalili
Khamenei cast one of the election’s first votes from his residence, television cameras and photographers capturing him dropping the ballot into the box.
Pezeshkian’s supporters have been warning Jalili will bring a “Taliban”-style government into Tehran, while Jalili has criticized Pezeshkian for running a campaign of fear-mongering.
The country’s foreign minister and others died in the May 19 helicopter crash. He was seen by many as a potential leader of the country. Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.
Pezeshkian did not propose any significant changes to a government that leaves all important matters of state to the Supreme Leader.
Pezeshkian will also be facing a government still largely controlled by hard-liners at a time of tensions with the West over a number of issues, including the war in Gaza.
Iran’s Guardian Council, charged with vetting candidates, had winnowed down a long list of hopefuls to just six candidate: five hard-line conservatives and one reformist. But two candidates dropped out before the first vote.
There were four remaining candidates, two of whom had served in the Intelligence and Interior ministries: Mostafa Pourmohammadi and Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
But no candidate received a majority of votes, with Pezeshkian leading with 10.4 million votes while Jalili trailed in second with 9.4 million. They went to Friday’s election.
