Will Anything Change Under Iran’s Newly Elected President?

After the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a May helicopter crash, Iran’s voters have elected a successor. Among the relatively narrow band of candidates authorized by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, the cardiac surgeon and politician Masoud Pezeshkian is a relative moderate. Yet, Lazar Berman reminds us, little is likely to change for both the citizens of Iran or, especially, Iran’s activities outside its borders. Why? Pezeshkian “has limited influence over foreign policy. On Iran’s policies across the Middle East, Pezeshkian is simply not a player. Those decisions are made by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is answerable to Khamenei.”