Masoud Pezeshkian

Masoud Pezeshkian
مسعود پزشکیان
Pezeshkian in 2018
Member of the Parliament of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 May 2008 Serving with Farhanghi, Alirezabeigi, Saei, Saeidi and Bimeghdar
Constituency	Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr, (East Azerbaijan)
Majority	261,605 (36.27%)
Minister of Health and Medical Education
In office 22 August 2001 – 24 August 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Farhadi
Succeeded by	Kamran Bagheri Lankarani
Personal details
Born	(1954-09-29) 29 September 1954 Mahabad, West Azerbaijan, Iran
Alma mater	Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Iran University of Medical Sciences
Profession	Heart surgeon

Masoud Pezeshkian (Persian: مسعود پزشکیان; born 29 September 1954) is an Iranian reformist politician who is currently representing Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran, and also served as its First Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2020. He was Minister of Health between 2001 and 2005 in the cabinet of former President Mohammad Khatami.

He ran in the 2013 presidential election, but withdrew, and ran again in the 2021 election, which was disqualified. Pezeshkian qualified in 2024, and is currently running in the 2024 presidential election.

Early life

Pezeshkian was born in Mahabad on 29 September, 1954 to an Iranian Azerbaijani father and an Iranian Kurdish mother. After receiving his diploma, he moved to Zabol in 1973 to do his military service, and it was during this time when he became interested in medicine. During the Iran-Iraq war, Pezeshkian was a soldier and doctor at the same time.

Education

Pezeshkian finished his General practitioner course in 1985, and started teaching Physiology at the medical college. In 1990, he obtained his specialty in general surgery from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. He was employed at the Shahid Madani Hospital in Tabriz, where he later became the head of this hospital. In 1993, he received a subspecialty in cardiac surgery from Iran University of Medical Sciences.

Career

Pezeshkian became Minister of Health from 2001 to 2005 in the cabinet of former President Mohammad Khatami. In 2010, he failed in his bid to become deputy speaker of parliament. Pezeshkian is also a Quran teacher, and reciter of the Nahj al-balagha, a key text for Shia Muslims. He is elected as one of Iranian parliament members from Tabriz in 2008 election. He has also served as the parliament's First Deputy Speaker from May 29, 2016 to May 26, 2020. Pezeshkian is currently representing Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran, and is also a member of Iran-Turkey Friendship society.

Views

IRGC

Pezeshkian is a supporter of the IRGC, and has called the current IRGC "different from the past". He condemed the declaration of IRGC as a terrorist organization by United States in 2019. After the 2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone, Pezeshkian called the American government terrorist and described the IRGC's action to target the drone as "a strong punch to the mouths of the leaders of criminal America". In a university meeting and in response to some criticisms, Pezeshkian put on the IRGC uniform, and said that he would wear it again.

Pezeshkian during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)

Critical of the system

Pezeshkian has criticized the system multiple times. During the protests after the presidential elections of 2009, in a speech, Pezeshkian criticized the way the protesters were treated. In his speech, he mentioned the words of the first Shiite Imam [Ali] addressed to Malik Ashtar that "Do not treat people like a wild animal".

Pezeshkian considered Iran's method of managing the 2018 protests as "scientifically and intellectually wrong". He blamed the country's system for all the events and said, "We should have done better." After The 2022 protests, Pezeshkian demanded the creation of an assessment and clarification team regarding the incident. Although he considered the way of dealing with the protestors and their trial to be contrary to the constitution and demanded that the defendants should get lawyers, he later issued an statement, condemned the protests and did not consider it to be in the people's interest.

Ethnic view

Pezeshkian demands the implementation of Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution for all ethnicities. This principle says: "The official and common language and script of the people of Iran is Persian. Documents, correspondence, official texts and textbooks must be in this language and script, but the use of local and ethnic languages in the press and mass media and the teaching of their literature in schools is free, along with the Persian language." He called the implementation of this principle an obstacle to giving excuses to separatists and dissidents. Pezeshkian also supports teaching of Azerbaijani language in Iranian schools.

Personal life

Pezeshkian and Mahmoud Sadeghi wearing IRGC uniforms.

Pezeshkian's wife was a gynecologist. He lost his wife and one of his children in a car accident in 1994, and never married after that. His daughter, Zahra Pezeshkian, has a master's degree in chemistry from Sharif University of Technology, and was working at Jam Petrochemical before the Rouhani government came to power. Pezeshkian is a fan of Tractor S.C.

Public face

Sources consider his family to be far from the sidelines and himself to have a clear track record in economic matters. However, his political opponents such as Alireza Zakani have accused him of defending people involved in corruption.