Meet Iran’s New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Excerpt

The accidental death in May of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, a cleric of unwavering loyalty to the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, obliged Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to call for a new election. Mr. Khamenei surely views presidential elections with trepidation. They have for three decades routinely revealed the Iranian electorate’s distaste for him and the theocracy that actually controls the government. The regime now rigorously vets candidates to ensure that convulsive political movements don’t arise.

In many quarters, the victory of the relatively moderate Masoud Pezeshkian is seen as a rebuke to a system that had come to rely exclusively on reactionaries. That view is mistaken. The Islamic Republic is stronger than it was before the election. The supreme leader, who can prevent anyone from running for office and unquestionably rigged the 2009 presidential election, will likely benefit from having a president who is a physician rather than a dour, uninspiring mullah.

Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.