AFP:

Masoud Pezeshkian's victory in Iran's presidential elections has given a rare boost to efforts for scaling down years of tensions over Tehran's nuclear program, even with no indication of any upcoming breakthrough in the crisis.

Pezeshkian's defeat of ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili, a former chief nuclear negotiator whose intransigence and style made him notorious among Western diplomats, is a relief for European governments as they seek to maintain dialogue on the issue.

The incoming president was backed by former president Hassan Rouhani, who while in office led efforts to defuse the crisis.

Pezeshkian also boasted on his campaign team former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who in the past had worked intensely with European officials over the nuclear dossier.

But even after taking office, Pezeshkian will in no way be Iran's number one figure on foreign policy or nuclear issues, with top authority resting with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has led the Islamic republic since 1989.

During campaigning for the election — called after hardline president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash — 69-year-old Pezeshkian had advocated for an Iran more open to the West.

He had also called for "constructive relations" with Washington and the Europeans in order to "bring Iran out of its isolation."

He showed "that his project was very different from that of the ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili," who rejected the impact of international sanctions on the economy, said Thierry Coville, Iran specialist at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, or IRIS.

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