Masoud Pezeshkian is the president of Iran. A reformist physician, he has publicly called for friendship with America. Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, orchestrated his election rather than that of a hardliner as part of a broader shift towards engagement with the West. Decisions to relax the veil, embrace negotiations with America and seek investment from it brought some reformists back on board.
On July 2nd 2025 Pezeshkian ordered Iran to suspend co-operation with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.
Pezeshkian has called for a dialogue with the opposition and the return of exiles, trying to turn the unity produced by the June 2025 war into lasting reconciliation. But he lacks the clout to deliver. Iranians blame him for blackouts and lengthy water cuts in the summer heat, and for the run on the rial, having failed to persuade Iran's sanctions-busting businessfolk to repatriate their earnings. Two former presidents, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani, both command a larger popular base.
Amid six years of drought, Pezeshkian has decreed that rice should be grown in only five provinces, not the usual 17. He said that if the rains fail again he would evacuate the capital.
In early January 2026 Pezeshkian's main economic reform began: scrapping a preferential exchange rate for imports of essential goods and using the savings to send monthly cash transfers of 10m rials per person—worth less than $8, barely enough for a bag of rice or a jug of cooking oil. Fatemeh Mohajerani, a government spokeswoman, acknowledged the reform would lead to "significant" price increases for chicken, eggs and other staples. On the eve of protests that erupted in late December 2025, Pezeshkian admitted: "I can't do anything." He briefly described the first week of protests as legitimate, but his caution was swept aside by the raw power of the theocracy and its enforcers. The loyal pro-reform opposition has been neutralised by his election: as one of their number, he has absorbed their political energy without delivering meaningful change. Braver voices have been silenced.
It is very difficult to prophesy, especially when it pertains to the future.