Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian has been officially sworn in as president on July 30, two days after religious leader Ali Khamenei endorsed his role.

Born on September 29, 1954, in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, Pezeshkian completed his early education in his hometown before moving to Urmia and then doing his military service close to the border with Pakistan. He is a medical doctor by training and was previously an active cardiac surgeon in Tabriz. He is of mixed Azerbaijani and Kurdish background, a common trait of the local area, and is a fluent speaker of the regional languages and Persian, the Iranian lingua franca.

Pezeshkian then took the oath of office, signed the text and handed it over to Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council.

“I swear to uphold the official religion, the system of the Islamic Republic, and the country's constitution, and to utilise all my talents and qualifications to fulfil the responsibilities entrusted to me,” he said in the oath.

The new president also vowed to avoid any kind of autocracy and to uphold the freedom, dignity, and constitutional rights of all individuals within the nation. “I solemnly swear that I will spare no effort in safeguarding our country's political, economic, and cultural independence,” he added.

Pezeshkian described his government as one of national unity, saying that this new phase of cooperation and national solidarity within the government, between the government and society, and within society itself is essential. The government, which will take on executive responsibility with the confidence of the representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament), is committed to ensuring the civil rights of all Iranians and "prioritising national interests above all else".

On the international front, the new president said, "We are ready to manage tensions with governments that have not yet understood Iran's dignity and status and to engage in dialogue."

He added, "I consider the normalisation of Iran’s economic and trade relations with the world an inalienable right of Iran, and I will tirelessly strive to lift unjust sanctions," in reference to the US and European sanctions levied on the country which have massively hampered growth. 

To witness Pezeshkian's comments, foreign officials at different levels, as well as representatives of international bodies, attended the ceremony. The most notable were the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, Leader of fellow Persian-speaking Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Pezeshkian had earlier appointed his first vice and chief of staff, and he will now have two weeks to introduce his proposed ministers to the parliament for a vote of confidence. He has vowed to employ individuals from all political factions in his bid to restore unity in the Iranian government.

He has developed a new initiative to select his cabinet, tasking a “strategic council” of around 30 experts and reviewing candidates' profiles. The council, in turn, established consultative committees made up of around 450 individuals of diverse backgrounds, including academic and non-academic experts, private sector representatives, and members of non-governmental organisations, to suggest and evaluate the nominees.According to Zarif, the council made sure the youth, women, and representatives of ethnic minorities were included in the committees.