Masoud Pezeshkian takes the oath of office as President of Iran

Masoud Pezeshkian has taken office as President of Iran after taking the oath of office. The elected head of state will be in office for four years – until 2028.

Foreign dignitaries arrived in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian, which took place this afternoon at the Iranian Parliament.

A limited number of journalists were allowed to attend the event, along with an honourable assembly, which, in addition to representatives and ambassadors from several countries, included prominent Iranian figures such as current and former ministers, former presidents, top judicial officials, and clerics.

Officials of the BRICS countries also attended the ceremony. Among them were the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola; Saudi Interior Minister Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif; and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Ahmed Abdel Ati. This is reported by Mehr News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin also took part in the inauguration ceremony. He personally met with Masoud Pezeshkian and conveyed to him congratulations on assuming office and warm words of greetings from President Putin.

In his address to the ceremony, Pezeshkian said, “We will seek constructive and effective engagement with the world based on the principles of dignity, wisdom, and expediency.”

On July 28, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei formally handed over the presidential mandate to Masoud Pezeshkian in a ceremony called Tanfiz and presented the president-elect with a decree known as a "decree of confirmation" or "decree of validation," officially recognising him as the legitimate president.

At the ceremony, held at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah, Ayatollah Khamenei addressed key developments in both Iran and the world. He discussed the current geopolitical landscape and gave an overview of Iran's modern history, explaining how Iran came to celebrate the inauguration of its 9th president. He then gave a number of pieces of advice on how the Pezeshkian administration should consider and deal with domestic and international issues.

On 5 July, Iran held the second round of extraordinary presidential elections, which are being held in connection with the death of the country's chief executive Ebrahim Raisi.

After all 30.530 million ballots were processed, Pezeshkian, who became the ninth elected president in the history of modern Iran, won 16.384 million votes – 53.6 per cent of the total.

Photo: Mehr News Agency