# Masoud Pezeshkian ## What the chair actually holds Masoud Pezeshkian has been president of Iran since 28 July 2024. Article 113 of the constitution makes the president the highest official after the Leader. It does not give him the IRGC. Ali Khamenei was Leader until 28 February–1 March 2026. Mojtaba Khamenei has been Leader since 8 March 2026. Pezeshkian sat on the Interim Leadership Council for a week. He is still president. That limit is the first fact about his power. The second is that a president still signs MoUs, appoints ministers, and runs interior during a war. Do not load every IRGC act onto this chair. Do not pretend the chair is empty. ## Costs on the record The [2021 Guardian Council disqualification](/facts/ir-gc-disqualify-2021) is a completed filter he later passed only after [Raisi](/people/ebrahim-raisi)’s death. The [2024 field](/facts/ir-gc-filter-2024) was still a Council-approved slate. [Hijab enforcement](/facts/ir-hijab-2024) and executions continued after inauguration; he did not gazette a repeal. [2026 wartime protest crackdowns](/facts/ir-war-crackdown-2026) are a completed interior file. [Internet restrictions](/facts/ir-internet-2024) are a completed communications instrument. The [February 2026 US-Israeli war](/facts/ir-war-2026) that killed Ali Khamenei is stored as a complex contribution: he condemned the strikes; he did not order them; he is not the Leader who commands the IRGC. [2025 US strikes on nuclear sites](/facts/ir-us-strikes-2025) are a neighbouring US instrument. Far-right accusations of a ‘soft coup’ are stored as allegation, not as a completed judgment. ## Gains on the record The [5 July 2024 runoff](/facts/ir-runoff-2024) against Jalili is a completed competitive round inside a filtered system. [Inauguration on 28 July](/facts/ir-inauguration-2024) is a completed oath. [Mohammad Reza Aref as first VP](/facts/ir-aref-2024) is a completed reformist-adjacent appointment. The [2001–05 health ministry](/facts/ir-health-minister-2001) is a completed earlier executive. [UNGA 2024](/facts/ir-unga-2024) is a completed diplomatic speech. The [2026 Islamabad memorandum](/facts/ir-islamabad-mou-2026) is a completed text his office defends as leaving ‘neither war nor peace’. [Meetings with Mojtaba](/facts/ir-meet-mojtaba-2026) are completed, limited access. [Condemning the Minab school strike](/facts/ir-minab-2026) is a completed statement about a neighbouring attack, not authorship of the munition. Official carriers include president.ir, the Guardian Council, the Interior Ministry and election authorities, neighbouring IAEA files, and contemporaneous Reuters. He remains president in August 2026. Keep July 2024 and March 2026 on separate dates. A health-ministry appointment in 2001 is not a 2024 inauguration. A Guardian Council filter is not a runoff. A runoff is not a Leader succession. A Leader succession is not an Islamabad memorandum. Treat those as texts with dates. Interior can police wartime protests without becoming the IRGC. The IRGC can fire without becoming the president. Washington can strike nuclear sites without converting this chair into a unique later crater coefficient. Those limits stay visible so a moderate halo cannot swallow the execution file and a wartime cartoon cannot swallow the health-ministry years. ## Shared files and limits The score does not say that every IRGC missile is a presidential order. It does not say that a 2024 runoff rebates 2026 crackdowns. It does not convert a far-right tweet into a completed coup trial. Related people are Khamenei, Raisi, Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, Xi, Biden, Guterres, Erdoğan, Macron, Sisi, Abbas. A president of the Islamic Republic is powerful enough to own a cabinet, an interior crackdown, and a memorandum his office defends. He is not powerful enough to be the unique author of the Leader, the Guardian Council, or a US strike order. Keep the 5 July 2024 runoff off the March 2026 interim council. Keep compulsory [hijab](/people/riad-hijab) off a UNGA speech. Keep an execution tally off a health-ministry year. If those distinctions feel pedantic, they are the alternative to a reformist film and the alternative to a cartoon. ## Dated facts - 2026: Pezeshkian defends an Iran–US memorandum reached in Islamabad. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-islamabad-mou-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/pezeshkian-defends-islamabad-mou-us-2026-08-22/, https://www.president.ir/. - 2026: Hardliners accuse Pezeshkian of a ‘soft coup’ while Mojtaba remains off-stage. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-soft-coup-allegation-2026. Sources: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-903941, https://www.president.ir/. - 2026: Pezeshkian meets Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as his third presidential year begins. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-meet-mojtaba-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-pezeshkian-recently-met-supreme-leader-khamenei-state-media-says-2026-08-09/, https://www.president.ir/en/2026/08/09. - Security operations intensify in Kurdish provinces during the 2026 war. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-kordestan-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-kurdish-provinces-security-operations-war-2026-03-20/, https://www.moi.ir/. - 2026: Interior forces crack down on wartime protests during Pezeshkian’s presidency. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-war-crackdown-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-protests-crackdown-war-2026-03-15/, https://www.moi.ir/. - 2026: Pezeshkian condemns a strike on a girls’ school in Minab. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-minab-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-school-strike-minab-pezeshkian-2026/, https://www.president.ir/. - 2026: Pezeshkian sits on the Interim Leadership Council after Khamenei’s death. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-interim-council-2026. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-interim-leadership-council-pezeshkian-2026-03-01/, https://www.president.ir/. - 2026: A US-Israeli war on Iran begins; Ali Khamenei is killed. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-war-2026. Sources: https://www.president.ir/, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-israel-war-iran-khamenei-killed-2026-02-28/, https://english.khamenei.ir/. - 2025: The United States strikes three Iranian nuclear sites. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-us-strikes-2025. Sources: https://www.war.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/4222543/secretary-of-defense-pete-hegseth-and-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-gen/, https://www.reuters.com/world/us-strikes-iranian-nuclear-sites-2025/. - 2024: Iran’s execution tally remains high in the first months of Pezeshkian’s presidency. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-executions-2024. Sources: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/global-recorded-executions-hit-their-highest-figure-since-2015/, https://www.ohchr.org/. - 2024: Iran’s military-industrial support to Russia continues during Pezeshkian’s presidency. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-russia-drones-2024. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-russia-drones-continue-pezeshkian-2024-12-05/, https://www.state.gov/. - 2024: Iran and the IAEA remain in a stalled inspections stand-off during Pezeshkian’s first months. https://factrail.ai/facts/ir-iaea-2024. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-iaea-inspections-pezeshkian-2024-11-21/, https://www.iaea.org/. ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/people/masoud-pezeshkian