Media outlets around the world hailed the choice of new Iranian President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian as if he were a combination of Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Jesus.
It’s hard to find an article about Pezeshkian that does not stick the word “moderate” in front of his name.
This characterization is not only “moderate”-ly wrong, it is downright dangerous.
“God willing, we will try to have friendly relations with all countries except Israel,” Pezeshkian said in a quote highlighted by the media watchdog HonestReporting, which is the essence of antisemitism.
When he spoke to Hassan Nasrallah, the Iranian-backed head of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, Pezeshkian revealed his true unmoderate views to the world:
“The Islamic Republic has always supported the resistance of the people of the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian said. “I am certain that the resistance movements in the region will not allow this regime to continue its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations of the region.”
He promised to “maintain and even strengthen the ideals of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,” who has brought his country to economic ruin while investing massive sums in terrorists threatening and attacking Israel. Khamenei’s ideal is wiping Israel off the map, which is much more of a priority for him than helping his own people.
PEZESHKIAN, WHO will be sworn in on July 28, also wrote to Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh and spoke personally with him twice since his election, including this Sunday. He pledged his country’s continued support of the terrorist organization.
Nevertheless, listen to the glowing reviews he received in the American and British mainstream media.
“With the election of the reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian as president, Iran may see a softening of its absolutist foreign policy and even an opportunity for a new diplomatic opening, current and former officials and experts say,” The New York Times wrote.
The newspaper suggested that his ties with former diplomats who could run his foreign policy “raised hopes of a warmer relationship with the West.”
The Guardian raised unrealistic expectations and false hope for its readers in an editorial.
“Mr. Pezeshkian’s unexpected triumph offers some hope for Iranians and those outside Iran – especially as his rival was an ideologically hardline former nuclear negotiator who opposed the 2015 deal,” the British newspaper wrote. “The opportunities should not be overestimated. But, however small, they must be seized.”
The Washington Post called Pezeshkian “a little-known reformist and cardiac surgeon,” who “campaigned for more social freedoms and engagement with the West.”
The BBC reported that “the 69-year-old former heart surgeon and health minister campaigned on promises to moderate Iran’s conservative outlook and improve relations with the West. He criticized the country’s notorious morality police and called for negotiations over a renewal of the faltering 2015 nuclear deal.”
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So why are these reports so dangerous?
Iranian-backed Hamas and Hezbollah attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Iran itself attacked Israel on April 13, and it continues supporting a six-front war against the Jewish state. If you call him a moderate, it legitimizes attacks on Israel, past and present.
It is Iranian intransigence that is currently preventing the ceasefire in Gaza that the Western world wants to see after more than nine months of war.
Iran is moving full speed ahead to acquire nuclear weapons while calling for Israel’s destruction. That is as far away from moderate as it gets.
Pezeshkian told the head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat on Sunday that “bitter” events in the Middle East were due to “the presence of Israel and subversive policies of the West.”
The leaders of Russia, China, and Syria all pledged to strengthen ties with Iran in congratulatory messages to Pezeshkian.
“We will work with you to boost the Syrian-Iranian strategic relationship and open new promising horizons for bilateral cooperation, as resistance will remain the common approach that we follow, to preserve the pride of our countries and defend the interests of their peoples,” Syrian dictator Bashar Assad said.
Meanwhile, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines revealed last week that actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online sought to encourage anti-Israel protests on campuses, and they even provided financial support to protesters.
“In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years,” Haines said.
Haines’s revelation should be broadcast on every campus that had an encampment when students return so they will know the organizers’ true agenda.
Instead, all uninformed and misinformed students will know about Iran is that its president is a moderate. The president is powerful in America, so they will not understand that in Iran, the president’s power is limited, and it is the supreme leader who is really in charge.
Iran expert Meir Javedanfar of Reichman University said in an interview with HonestReporting this week that the major difference between Pezeshkian and the harder-line candidates who ran against him is that he thinks moderating domestic policies is the best way to ensure that the regime will endure.
But it should have been made clear by the international media that all the candidates allowed to run, including Pezeshkian, backed the supreme leader. No matter who won the undemocratic election, significant change would remain out of reach.
The media have a huge impact on public opinion, which in turn yields operative steps by governments which instead of pressing Iran to stop supporting terror, could end up emboldening the Islamic Republic as it makes the world increasingly volatile.
It’s time for the media to start reporting the facts instead of terrorist-backed propaganda. If they do, their stories on Iran will be moderately right.
The writer is the executive director and executive editor of the pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting. He served as chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post for 24 years.