Iran’s new hope: a cardiologist president
He is said to detest the capital, Tehran. Can he master its politics?
The election of Masoud Pezeshkian, a reform-minded cardiologist, as president of Iran on July 5th prompted jubilation. In the hours after the vote, men and women danced in the streets as if the country’s strict dress code were no more. Some speculated that they would now escape the grip of their ayatollahs and of American sanctions. Hossein Derakhshan, a former political prisoner now close to Mr Pezeshkian, chirped that this was “the age of freedom from the cage”.
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A new hope, again”
From the July 13th 2024 edition
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