Masoud Pezeshkian’s victory in Iran’s presidential election on July 5 was, in many ways, surprising: The parliamentarian is a relative moderate who has pledged to engage with the West and criticized the harassment of women by Iran’s morality police. But will his reformist views translate to meaningful change?

Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen joined the podcast to talk about what Pezeshkian’s victory means for Iran’s domestic and foreign policy challenges — its relations with the U.S. and the Gulf states in particular.

For more, read a related analysis by Tabaar in Foreign Affairs.

Discussants

Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Ph.D. 

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Ph.D. 

The Honorable David M. Satterfield