Masoud Pezeshkian: Iran, a headache for the western countries and a sympathiser of the Arab countries, has got its new president. His name is Masoud Pezeshkian, he has defeated Iran’s radical leader Saeed Jalili in the presidential election. So will the new president of Iran be able to change the image of his country, which is being opposed by everyone from America to Britain, France and Israel?
Is the change in power in Iran going to have any special effect on the relations between Iran and India or is nothing going to change in Iran no matter who becomes the President while Ayatollah Khamenei is there? After all, what is the meaning of the arrival of a new President in Iran, let’s have a look at this.
Iran has more enemies than friends, and they are also powerful
Although Iran has diplomatic relations with about 165 countries of the world, but except the Arab countries, every country of the world wants to maintain a sufficient distance from Iran. The reason for this is Iran’s radical leaders, whose policies have made every powerful country in the world their enemy. Iran is still facing sanctions from Western countries due to its nuclear program. Because of this, whether it is the International Monetary Fund IMF or the Asian Development Bank ADB or the World Bank, no one helps Iran. Apart from this, due to Iran’s attitude towards Hamas in Palestine and the way Iran is supporting Hamas through Lebanon, Israel is also an enemy of Iran. So Iran is a country which has more enemies than friends and those enemies are powerful.
Has the world’s view towards Iran changed?
In such a situation, Masood Pezeshkian becoming the President of Iran is a hope, because Masood is considered a reformist leader in comparison to his opponent Saeed Jalili. He is not a fundamentalist like his predecessors and current rival. This is why even during his election, Pezeshkian has repeatedly stressed that he will restore the spoiled relations with Western countries. Iran is still not a member of FATF i.e. Financial Action Task Force, an international organization working to find out how terror funding and money laundering takes place in Iran. In such a situation, Masood Pezeshkian’s statement that he also wants to join FATF raises the hope of changing the world’s view towards Iran.
Iran’s stance on Hamas remains the same
The war between Israel and Hamas will not end even after Pezeshkian’s arrival, because Pezeshkian’s stance on Israel is the same as that of all other Iranian leaders. Yes, some changes may take place in Iran after Pezeshkian’s arrival, among which women’s freedom is the most important, because when protests were taking place in Iran regarding hijab, Pezeshkian had said that we want to impose our religious beliefs through force, for whatever is happening in the country, I along with religious scholars and mosques, everyone is responsible.
Supreme Leader still Ayatollah Khamenei
But all this is just talk. Because the president has changed in Iran, not the power. Even though Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian is a reformist, he wants to improve relations with western countries and also wants to bring about reforms within Iran, but all this is possible only when Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei wishes so. Because no matter who the president is in Iran, the power is in Khamenei’s hands. And as long as Khamenei is there, the president’s hands are tied and he is nothing more than a rubber stamp. Pezeshkian himself does not want to challenge this supreme power and even during his election, he has declared that Khamenei’s words are set in stone for Iran. Therefore, it is meaningless to expect any revolutionary change to take place overnight after the change of power in Iran.
What benefit can India get?
Now if we talk about India’s expectations from the new regime in Iran, then the Prime Minister himself is giving a glimpse of it. Narendra Modi This has been seen in the tweet of PM. While congratulating Masood Pezeshkian on being elected President, he has said that we will work together to improve our old relations. Talking about what India needs from Iran, Iran supplies crude oil to India. But ever since America has broken the nuclear deal with Iran, India is not able to buy oil from Iran even if it wants to. In such a situation, if the attitude of western countries softens on the advice of Pezeshkian, then the supply of oil and gas between Iran and India can start again and due to this, the price of oil in India can come down.
Relations started to strengthen with Chabahar Port
Apart from that, India has already taken over Iran’s Chabahar port for 10 years. And India did this when all the countries of the world including America were against Iran. So now that Pezeshkian has come, it is expected that the ice on relations with western countries will melt and India will also benefit from it. Apart from that, both India and Iran are part of the International North-South Transport Corridor which is being built. This project of about 7200 km has a sea route, railway and road, which will make the movement of goods to India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe easier. Therefore, it is expected that with Pezeshkian, new business relations will also start between India and Iran, which were either not able to start or were not being worked upon due to the pressure of Iran’s fundamentalist leaders.
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