Iran’s recent presidential elections ended with a surprise victory for moderate reformist Masoud Pezeshkian in a second-round run-off vote on July 5. As he prepares to be sworn into office, the new president-elect faces a number of major challenges, including widespread public dissatisfaction and distrust. Most Iranians no longer believe that the Islamic Republic is able to carry out real reforms, and recent polling from inside the country shows that grievances among the public touch on the core pillars of the regime’s belief system. This means that Pezeshkian, who made some lofty promises for change during the election campaign, faces a steep uphill battle when it comes to meeting Iranians’ expectations.
How did Pezeshkian manage to win the highly stage-managed election, and what do we know about his voters? How much of a role did conservative infighting play in the result, and what does the inability of the hardline camp to unite around one candidate tell us? Finally, drawing on recent polling data, what are some of the key issues of concern that Iranians want the new president to focus on?
The Middle East Institute is pleased to invite you to join a virtual panel discussion to address these and other questions about Iran’s recent presidential elections, its new president, and the future of the Islamic Republic.
Speakers
Holly Dagres
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
Arash Ghafouri
CEO, Stasis Consulting
Alex Vatanka
Director of Iran Program, Middle East Institute
Nazee Moinian (Moderator)
Non-Resident Scholar, Middle East Institute
Extended Speaker Biographies
Holly Dagres is a nonresident senior fellow specializing in Iranian affairs at the Atlantic Council as well as the editor of its Middle East Programs’ IranSource and MENASource publications. Additionally, she is the curator for the weekly newsletter The Iranist. In a separate capacity, she is an Iran analyst (contract) for the US Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO). Before joining the Atlantic Council, Dagres worked as a freelance Iran analyst, regularly following traditional and social media in English and Persian. She also worked as the assistant editor at the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, associated with the American University in Cairo’s Global Affairs and Public Policy School. She regularly conducts radio, television, and print interviews, including CNN, BBC News, Bloomberg, NBC News, and NPR. Her work on Iran has appeared in numerous publications, including Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The New York Times, TIME, and the Washington Post. She is the author of the groundbreaking report, “Iranians on #SocialMedia.”
Arash Ghafouri is the founder and CEO of Stasis Consulting and the pollster behind surveycenter.io. Arash is a data scientist with more than 20 years of experience in project management and data analytics. Arash earned his MBA from Carleton University in Canada, and he is a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He also holds a master’s degree in political management (campaign management) from George Washington University. Prior to founding Stasis, Arash served as the CEO of the polling firm IPOS.
Alex Vatanka is the founding Director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute. He specializes in Middle Eastern regional security affairs with a particular focus on Iran. He was formerly a Senior Analyst at Jane’s Information Group in London. Alex is also a Senior Fellow in Middle East Studies at the US Air Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS) at Hurlburt Field and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at DISAS at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has testified before the US Congress and lectured widely for both governmental and commercial audiences, including the US Departments of State and Defense, US intelligence agencies, and a list of international corporations.
Nazee Moinian is a Non-Resident Scholar with MEI’s Iran Program and holds a PhD in political science/Iran Studies from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. During the 2016 US presidential election, Nazee advised Secretary Hillary Clinton’s campaign as a member of its foreign policy advisory group on Iran. She previously consulted on Iranian affairs with the Council on Foreign Relations, where she interviewed foreign diplomats and acted as a liaison between the country’s political figures and their Western counterparts. In 2001, Nazee became a United Nations envoy for a variety of Jewish non-profit organizations. She has helped produce several acclaimed documentaries, including 2020’s Nasrin, about the imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, as well as 2012’s The Iranian-Americans, which aired on PBS.
Photo by RAHEB HOMAVANDI/AFP via Getty Images