The Friday, June 28 surprise election to replace former President Ebrahim Raisi resulted in tepid turnout and a run-off between the two leading vote getters, the reformist Member of Parliament Masoud Pezeshkian and the hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. The run-off will be held on Friday, July 5. Below are some key takeaways:
In three days, another election will be held in Iran. Particularly since 1997, Iranians have pursued various approaches to the elections in order to achieve a better life. They have worked and sacrificed to make the best decisions with minimal resources and under intense pressures. It is up to Iranians to decide whether participating in this Friday’s presidential election is worthwhile. We urge those outside Iran to listen, rather than attempt to speak for the Iranian people.
The following piece was written by Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council. The ongoing war in Gaza, in which Israeli forces have killed over 36,000 Palestinians with little end in sight, is not some distant crisis that is disconnected from the lives of Americans. As the slaughter of civilians has provoked widespread international condemnation, mass protests, and even rulings from the International Criminal of Justice that Israel may be carrying out a genocide, American tax dollars and political support have sustained the conflict. The United States government has provided billions of dollars in weaponry being used to kill civilians, along with logistical support and political cover for Israel and Netanyahu to sustain the assault. This mass slaughter of civilians is taking place in our names with the support of our elected government, which is why the war in Gaza is something that all Americans should care about – and for Iranian Americans, there are even more ways this war touches our lives and makes it urgent and necessary to demand our government stop enabling it. Preventing War with Iran Means Ending the War in Gaza As we recognized since the horrific October 7th attacks by Hamas, the
Washington, DC – Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement on the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and other Iranian figures: “The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, along with Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian, creates a void in the Islamic Republic’s leadership amid a deepening legitimacy crisis for the Islamic Republic. “Raisi came to office in elections that were highly choreographed, even by the Islamic Republic’s standards, and which marked a new era of consolidation of power by hardliners and the narrowing of already meager channels for popular political contestation allowed by the regime. “He entered office with a long history of rights abuses from his time in the Iranian judiciary that oversaw mass executions of political dissidents in 1988 and Raisi’s government will be forever known for its brutal crackdown against popular demonstrations during the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement. “Iran will now hold a special Presidential election in fifty days to replace the current caretaker administration led by Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber. This will pose new challenges for the Islamic Republic, as popular participation in elections has declined precipitously in recent years. Most recently,
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