Iran’s New President Is No Reformer

UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky and UANI Research Associate Jack Roush write: "Masoud Pezeshkian’s victory in Iran’s presidential election on July 5 was met with a markedly positive reaction by international media. Many have touted the president-elect’s supposedly reformist bona fides — either by asserting that he wants “women to have the right to dress as they choose,” by emphasizing his calls for renewed talks with the West, or by claiming he supported antiregime protest movements in recent years. This coverage both contradicts Pezeshkian’s wider political profile and feeds into the narrative promoted by the Islamic Republic’s spin masters. It also demonstrates Khamenei’s probable motivation for allowing Pezeshkian to be put forward as a candidate in the first place."