Masoud Pezeshkian may be the man closest to expressing the voice of Iranians, given that he came to his post through a general vote - the post of president of the republic, or president of a public, as they say in Iran. It is true that the mechanisms of approval and vetting, before a candidacy is formally accepted, pass through the filters of the authorities and of institutions above the state, which are tied in the end to the Supreme Leader's office and to the centers of power in the Revolutionary Guard and the like. But he remains the closest to the people's voice, without being its complete and final expression.
For this reason, perhaps, his voice seems different to some degree from the rest of the system's leaders, from the Supreme Leader himself through to Qalibaf, the Revolutionary Guard commanders, and the rest of the military and security men and the system's clerics.
In remarks he made in a television interview last Friday, he said: “We must correct our outlook in order to raise the level of our relations with neighboring states, and we must reach a common language with them to guarantee the region's security.”
On Saturday, the following day, Pezeshkian said, during the opening of a bridge and tunnel complex in Isfahan by video link, that the government “would work to manage energy consumption over the winter but would not allow production to stop; and that if necessary, they should cut the electricity to the government, but not to industry. “
This talk has a different flavor and a different impact from that of the rest of the system's leaders. The man acknowledges, in a different vocabulary, the harm done to the Iranian people by the blockade and the economic sanctions, that there is a real crisis, and that the Iranian is worn out.
He acknowledges that Iran's relations with its neighbors need improving and need a common language. To grasp how different this is, compare it with the talk of the generals: Rezaei, or Abdollahi, or Vahidi, and others, and the difference becomes clear.
And - this is the most important thing - he is not entirely in harmony with the words of the secluded Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who in a written message released by the Tasnim agency called on officials to avoid making any dispiriting statements that would weaken national and public motivation.
Khamenei warned in the written statement against talk of weak points, holding that displaying them serves the enemy.
I will not go so far as to say this reflects real and fundamental differences portending divisions capable of developing further. I will say it indicates some degree of difference. Had this degree of difference not materialized, we would be dealing with stone rather than ordinary human beings, who disagree even in times of calm, let alone during the calamities of fate and the misfortunes of the world.
Calamities are like great blessings: they cannot be concealed.
