“My message to the new world” runs the headline of a long piece by Iran’s President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran Times. As the headline suggests, he addresses multiple constituencies within the country and outside.
While paying tribute to the late president Raisi whose premature death in an air crash precipitated his election, and of course Supreme Leader Khamenei, Pezeshkian alluded to the deep social disaffection that propelled him to victory.
“I ran for office on a platform of reform, fostering national unity and engagement with the world, earning the trust of my compatriots … including those young women and men dissatisfied with the overall state of affairs. I deeply value their trust and am committed to … uphold the promises made during my campaign.”
In “My message”, he plans to prioritize relations with neighbours with the focus on fostering a “strong region” minus “erosive competitions, arms races or unwarranted containment of each other.”
The focus seems to be entirely on Iran’s western neighbours whom he names: Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, UAE and so on. The article talks of confidence building, dialogue and development. There is no mention of Syria or Lebanon where Iran is heavily involved, probably because they are not geographical neighbours.
India and other countries further east are not mentioned, probably because Tehran’s challenges lie to the west.
He calls for ending “the prolonged occupation that has devastated the lives of four generations of Palestinians”, and for the obligation placed on all nations under the 1948 Genocide Convention to come to Gaza’s aid.
Israel is an apartheid state, he writes, and lauds the agitation by young people in the West against the Jewish state.
“China and Russia have consistently stood by us during challenging times. We deeply value this friendship,” Pezeshkian writes, while praising Beijing for “facilitating the normalization of our relationship with Saudi Arabia.”
A major part of the article focuses on the perfidy by the US and Europe on the nuclear deal with Iran.
“We entered the JCPOA in 2015 in good faith and fully met our obligations but the US unlawfully withdrew from the agreement motivated by domestic quarrels and vengeance … causing untold suffering, death and destruction on the Iranian people.”
The US and its allies have “abused the non-proliferation regime to fabricate a crisis regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme, openly contradicting their own intelligence assessment.”
Iran’s defence doctrine does not include nuclear weapons and the US must learn from its miscalculations and adjust policy accordingly.
