Masoud Pezeshkian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Masoud Pezeshkian
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مسعود پزشکیان
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Pezeshkian in 2024
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| 9th President of Iran | |
| Assumed office 28 July 2024 |
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| Supreme Leader | Ali Khamenei |
| Vice President | Mohammad Reza Aref |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Mokhber (acting) |
| Member of the Consultative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 27 May 2008 Serving with Farhanghi, Alirezabeigi, Saei, Saeidi and Bimeghdar
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| Constituency | Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr, (East Azerbaijan) |
| Majority | 261,605 (36.27%) |
| Minister of Health and Medical Education | |
| In office 22 August 2001 – 24 August 2005 |
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| President | Mohammad Khatami |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Farhadi |
| Succeeded by | Kamran Bagheri Lankarani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 September 1954 Mahabad, Imperial State of Iran |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations |
Reformists |
| Spouse | widowed (1993) |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (MBBS) Iran University of Medical Sciences |
| Profession | Heart surgeon |
| Signature | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Iran |
| Branch/service |  IRGC |
| Battles/wars | Iran–Iraq War |
Masoud Pezeshkian (Persian: مسعود پزشکیان born 29 September 1954) is an Iranian politician and cardiac surgeon who has been the president of Iran since 28 July 2024. He previously represented Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran, and served as its First Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2020. He was Minister of Health and Medical Education between 2001 and 2005 in the Government of Mohammad Khatami.
He ran in the 2013 presidential election, but withdrew. He ran again in the 2021 election, but was unsuccessful.
For the 2024 election, Pezeshkian's candidacy was approved and he won the 2024 presidential election on 5 July in a runoff with 54.76% of the popular vote. He was formally appointed as the President of Iran on 28 July 2024. He is the 9th and the oldest person to take the office of President of Iran, at the age of 69 years.
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Early life and education
Pezeshkian was born in the Mahabad in West Azerbaijan on 29 September 1954 to an Iranian Azerbaijani father who was born in Qasr-e Shirin, and an Iranian Kurdish mother. In 1973, he received his diploma and moved to Zabol to serve his conscription duty. It was during this time when he became interested in medicine. After completing his service, he returned to his home province, where he entered medical school and graduated with a degree in general medicine. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), Pezeshkian frequently visited the front lines, where he was responsible for sending medical teams and working as a fighter and doctor. Pezeshkian finished his General practitioner course in 1985, and started teaching Physiology at the medical college.
Pezeshkian is fluent in both Azerbaijani and Kurdish, in addition to Persian.
After the war, he continued his education, specializing in general surgery at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. In 1993, he received a subspecialty in cardiac surgery from Iran University of Medical Sciences. He later became a specialist in heart surgery, leading him to become president of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 1994, a position he held for five years.
Career
Pezeshkian’s political journey began when he joined Mohammad Khatami’s administration as Deputy Health Minister in 1997. He was appointed Health Minister four years later, serving from 2001 to 2005. Since then, he has been elected to the Iranian parliament five times, representing Tabriz, and served as the First Deputy Speaker of the parliament from 2016 to 2020.
On July 6 2024, Pezeshkian became the President of Iran after winning the July 5 run-off of the 2024 Iranian Presidential Election with 16.3 million votes (53.7%) to Saeed Jalili’s 13.5 million (44.3%).
Pezeshkian is a Quran teacher, and reciter of the Nahj al-balagha, a key text for Shia Muslims. He is also a member of Iran-Turkey Friendship society.
Views
IRGC
Pezeshkian is a supporter of the IRGC, and has called the current IRGC "different from the past". He condemned the declaration of IRGC as a terrorist organization by United States in 2019. After the 2019 Iranian shoot-down of an American drone, Pezeshkian called the American government terrorists. In a university meeting and in response to some criticisms, Pezeshkian put on the IRGC uniform, and said that he would wear it again.
Critical of the system
Pezeshkian has criticized the system multiple times. During the protests after the presidential elections of 2009, in a speech, Pezeshkian criticized the way the protesters were treated. In his speech, he mentioned the words of the first Shiite Imam [Ali] addressed to Malik Ashtar that "Do not treat people like a wild animal".
Pezeshkian considered Iran's method of managing the 2018 protests as "scientifically and intellectually wrong". He blamed the country's system for all the events and said, "We should have done better." After the 2022 protests, Pezeshkian demanded the creation of an assessment and clarification team regarding the incident. Although he considered the way of dealing with the protestors and their trial to be contrary to the constitution and demanded that the defendants should get lawyers, he later issued an statement, condemned the protests and did not consider it to be in the people's interest.
Ethnic view
Pezeshkiyan emphasizes the rights of ethnic groups such as Azeris, Turks, Kurds, and Baluchis and states that the rights of these groups should be protected.
Pezeshkian supports the implementation of Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution for all ethnicities. This principle says: "The official and common language and script of the people of Iran is Persian. Documents, correspondence, official texts and textbooks must be in this language and script, but the use of local and ethnic languages in the press and mass media and the teaching of their literature in schools is free, along with the Persian language." He argues that the implementation of this principle mitigates separatist and dissident motivations. Pezeshkian also supports teaching of Azerbaijani language in Iranian schools.
Personal life
Pezeshkian's wife was a gynecologist. In 1993, Pezeshkian lost his wife and one of his children in a car accident. He raised his remaining two sons and daughter alone and has never remarried. His daughter, Zahra Pezeshkian, has a master's degree in chemistry from Sharif University of Technology, and was working at Jam Petrochemical before the Rouhani government came to power.
Pezeshkian is a fan of Tractor S.C.
See also
In Spanish: Masoud Pezeshkian para niños
