A Chance for Renewed Diplomacy with Iran

If the U.S. were willing to pursue serious diplomatic engagement with Iran, Pezeshkian’s election could be a significant opening for renewed nuclear negotiations.

Iranians voted in a new reformist president last week in a low turnout election:

Masoud Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon who wants to restart talks with the US over the landmark nuclear deal, was voted president of Iran after an election that underscored major challenges facing the country at home and abroad.

Pezeshkian’s win is a small bit of good news for the Iranian people. As with all Iranian presidents, Pezeshkian will not be able to make major policy changes even if he wishes to, and he will have limited room to maneuver in general. That said, he is the first reformist candidate to be elected in more than two decades, and his election is a better outcome for the Iranian people than a Jalili victory. Low turnout has typically favored the more hardline candidates in the past, so it was interesting and somewhat unexpected that the reformist still came out on top despite that. As Sina Toossi explained recently, “the Iranian electorate has made its stance unmistakably clear: it rejects extremism and desires a better quality of life, both domestically and through constructive international engagement.”

If the U.S. were willing to pursue serious diplomatic engagement with Iran, Pezeshkian’s election could be a significant opening for renewed nuclear negotiations. Unfortunately, I fear that there is no appetite in Washington to make the effort.