At Iran’s cultural house in Delhi’s Tilak Marg, several Iranian citizens, including Ambassador Iraj Elahi, embassy officials, their families, Iranian students and some businessmen and professionals who live and work in the NCR, gathered on Friday to cast their vote. In the evening, the votes in the lone ballot box were counted: of the total 97 votes, reformist candidate Dr Masoud Pezeshkian got 61, hardliner Saeed Jalili got 28 and there were eight void and white votes (that don’t have any name, and are seen as protest votes that reject both the candidates). On Sunday morning, Iranians all over the world woke up to the change in their country: Dr Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon turned reformist politician, had defeated Jalili, having garnered 16.3 million votes as against 13.5 million for his rival. The elections in Iran took place more than a month after hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi died in a chopper crash in May this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the newly elected President of Iran. “Congratulations @drpezeshkian on your election as the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Looking forward to working closely with you to further strengthen our warm and long-standing bilateral relationship for the benefit of our peoples and the region,” he posted on X. Reading the verdict in Tehran, Modi’s expression of working closely with the newly elected President from the reformist group is an expression of hope from South Block — since Delhi has had good experience of working with the reformists in the past. One important point to be noted in the context of Iranian power structure and hierarchy is the fact that the Iranian President is more of a deputy to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the final arbiter and decision-maker. Dr Pezeshkian is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. He served in the Iranian Parliament and as the Health Minister. An Azeri, one of Iran’s ethnic minorities, Dr Pezeshkian was endorsed by former President Mohammad Khatami. He is open to nuclear negotiations with the West and has pitched it as an economic imperative since US-led sanctions have affected the country’s economy. He also has a base among young and women voters and has a history of openly criticising the government and the violent crackdown on protesters over the 2022 death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. India-Iran ties India and Iran signed a friendship treaty on March 15, 1950. The ties got a fillip when reformist President Khatami was in power between 1997 and 2005. Indian diplomats in Tehran and Delhi point to the visit of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Iran and the signing of the Tehran Declaration in April 2001, followed by the visit of President Khatami and the signing of New Delhi Declaration in 2003, for enhanced India-Iran cooperation. President Khatami was the first Iranian President to have been invited as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2003. In fact, the story of India's involvement in Chabahar port development began when Iran's former National Security Adviser Hassan Rouhani held discussions with his Indian counterpart Brajesh Mishra in 2002. In January 2003, Khatami and Vajpayee signed the ambitious roadmap of strategic cooperation. That set the strategic vision for India-Iran partnership. The ties have gone through several ups and downs since then. India-Iran relations were impacted during hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s (2005-13) tenure due to the India-US nuclear deal and the sanctions on the Iranian nuclear programme. The relations improved in 2015, when reformist Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) came to power and the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) nuclear deal was signed between Iran and P5+1 and the sanctions were eased, but the moment was short-lived. When US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, the sanctions were back, and India had to stop buying oil from its traditional supplier Iran. Though Chabahar got an exemption from the sanctions, the pace of work has been slower than usual. Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi (2021-24) had held indirect talks with the Joe Biden administration, but there wasn't any headway. The Indian approach has been to wait and watch, especially since a possibility of Trump to be back in the White House is there in the next six months. Delhi will be extremely measured in how it moves forward in its ties with Iran, which has been low-key in recent years. In Delhi, 61 votes for Pezeshkian; 8 void At the Iran Cultural House on Delhi’s Tilak Marg, Iranian citizens trooped in on Friday to cast their votes. They included Embassy officials, including ambassador Iraj Elahi, their families, students, businessmen and professionals. In the evening, the votes were counted in the lone ballot box: Of the 97 votes cast, Pezekshkian got 61, Saeed Jalili got 28, and there were eight void and white votes (without name, seen as protest votes that reject both the candidates).
