Iran’s sole reformist candidate wants warm ties ‘with all countries except Israel’
Masoud Pezeshkian decries ‘inhuman or invasive behavior’ against women, in response to question over crackdown during 2022 Mahsa Amini protests
The sole reformist running in Friday’s Iranian presidential election told journalists after voting he hopes the country will have good relations “with all countries except for Israel.”
Masoud Pezeshkian, who voted at a hospital near the capital, Tehran, appeared to have the country’s ongoing confrontation with the West in mind as he responded to a journalist’s question about how Iran would manage international relations if he were president.
“God willing, we will try to have friendly relations with all countries except Israel,” the 69-year-old candidate said.
Iran and Israel have long waged a shadow war with the Islamic Republic reputedly calling for the destruction of the Jewish State. Hostilities burst into the open after nearly six months of war in the Gaza Strip, where Israel launched an unprecedented offensive after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the country’s south on October 7 to kill nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and take 251 hostages.
Since October 7, Iran’s proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen have targeted Israel as well, which they say is in support of Gaza’s Palestinians. Gaza’s Hamas rulers also receive financial and logistical assistance from Iran.
Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel on April 13 in what it said was retaliation for Israel’s suspected deadly strike on a consular building in Damascus on April 1, but almost all were shot down.
Iran is also engaged in an ongoing confrontation with the West and Israel over its nuclear program. Since the collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018, it has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels.
Western powers say there is no credible civilian reason for that. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but officials have recently said it could change its “nuclear doctrine” if it is attacked or its existence threatened. That has prompted alarm at the IAEA and in Western capitals.
Pezeshkian also responded to a question about a renewed crackdown on women over the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, less than two years after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide demonstrations and violent security force response.
“No inhuman or invasive behavior should be made against our girls, daughters and mothers,” he said.
A higher turnout on Friday’s elections — called to replace late president Ebrahim Raisi after he was killed in a helicopter crash last month — could boost Pezeshkian’s chances, and the candidate may have been counting on social media to spread his remarks, as all television broadcasters in the country are state-controlled and run by hardliners. But it remains unclear if he can gain the momentum needed to draw weary voters to the ballot.
