Pres. Pezeshkian says ensuring popular contentment governs his administration’s performance

President Masoud Pezeshkian considers ensuring the Iranian people’s contentment with his administration to be the standard governing its performance.

The chief executive made the remarks on Saturday in a televised interview, during which he addressed the nation for the first time since assuming office late last month.

“We are prepared to listen to what the people have to say and speak to them,” he said, pledging to stay committed to his electoral promises, respect honesty, and do whatever in his capacity towards the nation’s prosperity.

“As I stated from the beginning, I will not give a pledge that I would not be able to act on,” the president asserted.

Pezeshkian underlined the need for adoption of a forward-looking approach as well as the importance of solidarity and consensus in the path ahead.

“We [in the executive branch] are in a state of solidarity with the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei,” the president stated.

He defined absence of commitment to the law and the overall policies of the country’s Islamic establishment as one of the indications of disunity and the counterpoint to national consensus.

The president noted that the country was suffering from intense sanctions imposed by the United States as well as many European countries and other states that follow Washington's lead, but said attempting to resolve the people’s issues “does not have anything to do with the [existing] sanctions.”

On economic development

Pezeshkian said one of his administration’s plans for controlling the inflation consisted of expansion of economic interaction with the outside world within the framework of the country’s seventh national development plan.

Devised in 2022, the plan envisages an eight percent economic growth throughout its five-year-long period of implementation.

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The president said his plan was aimed at reducing the inflation to 30 percent by the end of the year, noting, however, that realization of this goal depended in part on the course of pending domestic and international developments.

He also underlined the need for resolution of existing imbalances affecting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

On domestic policy

The president said his administration would devise a “supervisory mechanism” monitoring various ministries’ commitment to existing regulations and plans.

He underscored endeavor towards enhancement of gender, ethnic, healthcare, and educational equality throughout the country.

Pezeshkian also stressed that appointment of officials to various positions across the country had to take place based on their “deservedness and [standing] regulations.”

On foreign policy

The president said his administration would try to reduce differences of opinion concerning the components of the country’s foreign policy.

His administration’s foreign policy envisioned resolution of the standing issues between Iran and other countries, including the Islamic Republic’s neighbors, he said, asserting, “Muslims are brothers with one another and should be united in the face of the enemies.”

“We have engaged in negotiations with around 40 countries, and are in the process of concluding agreements with them,” Pezeshkian noted.

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The president, meanwhile, pointed to his pending trip to Iraq that would constitute his first state visit to an overseas country, and his expected visit New York, to which he is slated to travel in September to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

In New York, he said, he would try to invite Iranian expatriates to travel to the Islamic Republic and also attempt to attract foreign investment in the country.

Concluding his remarks, Pezeshkian expressed gratitude towards Ayatollah Khamenei for the support that had been provided by the Leader towards resolution of the country’s economic issues and thanked the Iranian nation for the trust that they had invested in him.

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