President Dr. Muizzu extended his congratulations to Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly elected President of Iran, via social media.

In his post, Dr. Muizzu expressed his eagerness to collaborate and strengthen ties between the Maldives and Iran.

He also wished Pezeshkian success in fostering peace and prosperity both within Iran and the broader region.

Masoud Pezeshkian won the presidency by securing 53.7 percent of the vote in the July 5 runoff against former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Official results show Pezeshkian received nearly 16.4 million of the over 30 million votes cast, with Jalili garnering approximately 13.5 million votes.

A former health minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Pezeshkian is a trained heart surgeon and a current lawmaker.

He is known for his opposition to the 2009 crackdown on pro-democracy protests and his condemnation of the 2022 violence by the morality police following Mahsa Amini’s death.

The 69-year-old Pezeshkian has a diverse ethnic background, with an Azeri father and Kurdish mother. Persian is not his native language.