Voters in Iran have elected Masoud Pezeshkian as its new president. The reformist candidate defeated hard-liner Saeed Jalili on Saturday. Pezeshkian is a heart surgeon who had served as health minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Pezeshkian has criticized Iran’s mandatory hijab law for women and has promised to disband Iran’s morality police. He spoke in Tehran on Saturday.
President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian: “I consider your vote as a heavy responsibility on my shoulders, and I pledge to continue to be a listening ear for your words and a voice for the voiceless and the rejected.”
Saturday’s election was held six weeks after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. We will have more on the election later in the show.