Pezeshkian Wins Iranian Election, Replacing President Who Died in Helicopter Crash

Iran’s electoral authority announced on July 6 that Masoud Pezeshkian of the regime’s “moderate” faction has won the presidential election in the Islamic Republic. The election comes 50 days after the late President Ebrahim Raisi of the hardline Islamic conservative faction, accompanied by numerous officials, died in a helicopter crash, leaving his first vice president Mohammad Mokhber as interim president. Before the crash, an election had not been due until 2025. The presidency is not the most powerful position in Iran’s Islamic theocracy. As the chief executive and leader of the government, the president is appointed by election, but overseeing the nation’s security forces, clerics, judiciary, media, education, and foreign and economic policy is the supreme leader, or Ayatollah of Iran, who remains the head of the state, and holds ultimate power as the Islamic republic’s political and religious leader....