Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian penned an open letter to “the people of the United States” on April 1, 2026, during which he implored American citizens to “look beyond” incorrect information that portrayed Iran as a danger to the arena.
It was once, most likely, his maximum outstanding intervention right through the present war. In spite of being the president of a rustic in the course of disaster, Pezeshkian hasn’t had the absolute best of struggle profiles.
Criticized by way of conservatives at house for his conciliatory tone, the reformist baby-kisser has additionally been sidelined by way of Iran’s adversaries. Western media first of all gave the impression extra within the musings of Pezeshkian’s son, Yousef. President Donald Trump has slightly discussed Pezeshkian, rather than in an indirect social media submit on April 1 during which he claimed “Iran’s new regime president” had requested the U.S. for a ceasefire – one thing denied by way of Iran.
Global consideration has as a substitute in large part focused at the position of Iran’s best chief. First, it was once about who would prevail Ali Khamenei after his killing within the first moves of the struggle, after which what was once recognized about his successor and son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
As a researcher of recent Iranian politics, I feel this focal point at the best chief over the president inadvertently confirms a development in Iran that has been going down for years: the cementing of a political construction that increasingly more resembles a centralized dictatorship.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian data a video message on March 20, 2026.
AA Video/Anadolu by the use of Getty Photographs
An uneasy steadiness
The focus of energy round one determine sits uneasily with some of the founding impulses of the 1979 revolution that ushered within the Islamic Republic. A large spectrum of modern actors – Islamists, leftists and secular nationalists – have been concerned within the ousting of the shah. However they shared a minimum of one theory: the rejection of monarchy.
The concept one technology may now not resolve the political long run of the following was once exactly what many revolutionaries, regardless of their interior variations, had fought in opposition to.
As such, the gadget that first of all emerged in 1979 was once neither a natural theocracy nor a standard republic. The best chief would workout final non secular and political authority, and an elected president was once to include the republican measurement of the state. This 2d phase gave institutional shape to the modern promise that individuals, thru elections, would periodically renew political authority.
Within the first decade after the revolution, this steadiness functioned, albeit in a delicate and conflictual method.
The authority of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s first best chief, coexisted with the presidency – maximum significantly right through the transient presidency of Abolhassan Bani Sadr. Elected in 1980, Bani Sadr temporarily got here into war with clerical factions over the course of the revolution and the behavior of the Iran-Iraq struggle.
Accused of political incompetence, Bani Sadr was once impeached by way of parliament in 1981 and due to this fact fled into exile.
Iran’s first post-revolution president, Abolhassan Bani Sadr, in exile in France in 1981.
Marc Bulka/Gamma-Rapho by the use of Getty Photographs
The presidency of his successor, Ali Khamenei, marked a length of relative alignment with the best chief. Running below Khomeini’s authority, Khamenei operated much less as an self sufficient political drive than as an software embedded inside of a broader clerical and modern consensus.
The dynamic between president and ultimate chief was once additional redefined by way of the 1989 constitutional revision following Khomeini’s demise and the elevation of Khamenei from president to best chief. The submit of top minister was once abolished, consolidating govt authority within the presidency. On the identical time, the institutional and political supremacy of the best chief was once bolstered.
The weakening presidency
The presidency of Mohammad Khatami, who was once elected in 1997, demonstrated that the place of job may nonetheless serve as as an important locus of energy. As Khatami’s tenure confirmed, presidents have been nonetheless ready to form public discourse and coverage agendas, specifically in spaces equivalent to cultural coverage, overseas family members and financial control.
However a significant turning level within the energy of the place of job passed off in 2009 with the contested reelection of the hard-liner president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, amid fashionable allegations of electoral fraud.
It ended in mass demonstrations that turned into referred to as the “Green Movement.” The state answered with the repression of protesters, adopted by way of a consolidation of the safety equipment – specifically the increasing affect of the Islamic Modern Guard Corps across the best chief.
On the identical time, it marked the start of Ahmadinejad’s falling out of fashion. His populist rhetoric and makes an attempt to construct an unbiased political base ended in confrontations with clerical government within the early 2010s. It additionally uncovered the regime’s intolerance for even a quite self sufficient presidency.
It contributed to an influence fight between Ahmadinejad and Ideally suited Chief Ali Khamenei that turned into public in 2011 when the then-president sought to disregard Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi – simplest to be overruled by way of Khamanei.
Ahmadinejad was once due to this fact excluded from the 2017 presidential race by way of the Mum or dad Council, a frame handpicked by way of the best chief. In so doing, Khamenei made it transparent that whilst the place of job of the presidency may stay, it might stop to serve as as an unbiased middle of decision-making and tool.
Since then, presidents have persisted to be elected, however their capability to reshape the political order has been reduced sharply.
Supporters of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs
The presidency of Hassan Rouhani in short gave the look to be an exception. His election in 2013, and the next negotiation of the Joint Complete Plan of Motion, generated each home expectancies and critical world consideration.
But the sturdiness of the settlement remained contingent on choices taken past the presidency, each across the world and locally. Its eventual unraveling right through the primary Trump management showed suspicions amongst Iranian hard-liners across the best chief that reform, an unbiased energy middle within the presidency and international relations with the U.S. were a mistake.
With even the restricted type of democratic expression as embodied thru an elected president suppressed, political disengagement has adopted. Even supposing voter turnout remained vital within the years instantly following 2009, a longer-term development has noticed other people surrender religion in non-compulsory politics in Iran. Within the ultimate election, held in 2024, simply 39.9% of Iranians became out to vote.
Consolidation of energy
This diminishing of the position of the presidency and political legitimacy bureaucracy the background to any questions of succession now. However by way of lowering the political long run of the rustic to the id of long run best leaders, observers chance normalizing the transformation of what was once traditionally a contested and hybrid political gadget into one outlined by way of a unmarried place of job.
The bloody suppression of the January 2026 protests, the restrictions imposed by way of wartime stipulations and the expanding marginalization of non-compulsory establishments have all contributed to weakening the presidency.
The fallout of the present struggle would possibly, after all, see a reorganization of political establishments in Iran. However for now, when Pezeshkian seeks international relations with American citizens, the pertinent query is: Does his place of job nonetheless topic?
