Artist: Behnam Mohammadi
By: Kayhan Life Staff
One year ago, Masoud Pezeshkian assumed the presidency of the Islamic Republic. He was heralded as a moderate reformist who would undo the damage inflicted by his hardline predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a mysterious helicopter crash.
But twelve months on, not only has nothing changed in Iran — the situation has worsened. Iranians are grappling with rolling electricity, gas, and water shortages and are blaming an absent government and a heartless regime.
Despite lofty promises of economic recovery, political openness, and renewed diplomacy, Mr. Pezeshkian has governed exactly as he said he would: as a loyal servant to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Inflation has soared past 40 percent. The rial teeters in free fall. Basic goods and medicines have become unaffordable for millions. Though he campaigned on stabilizing the economy and curbing inflation, Mr. Pezeshkian’s administration has delivered neither — instead accelerating the crisis through reckless currency policies and unchecked government spending.
His record on civil liberties fares no better. The president who once spoke of internet freedom has presided over deeper censorship and more aggressive surveillance. A proposed law criminalizing online “falsehoods” sparked rare internal dissent and was eventually shelved — but the intent was unmistakable.
In foreign policy, too, the promised pragmatism evaporated. Mr. Pezeshkian vowed to re-engage diplomatically and reduce tensions. Yet within months, his government helped push Iran to the brink of open conflict with Israel. As Iranian commanders were assassinated and the country’s air defenses were exposed, Mr. Pezeshkian — like the Supreme Leader — remained conspicuously silent.
The lesson is stark: it does not matter who occupies the presidency in Iran. Real power lies not in the elected office but with an unelected Supreme Leader, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the network of opaque institutions that surround them. Whether reformist or hardliner, every president operates under the same collapsing ceiling.
Iran’s crisis is not one of leadership style — it is one of political structure. Until that changes, each election will merely swap one obedient mouthpiece for another, while the country slides further into decay.
