Masoud Pezeshkian ( fa, مسعود پزشکیان, born 29 September 1954 in

Mahabad Mahabad ( fa, مهاباد, ku, مەهاباد, translit=Mehabad), also Romanized as Mihābād and Muhābād and formerly known as Savojbolagh, is a city and capital of Mahabad County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its ...

from Azerbaijani family) is an Iranian

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

politician who is currently representing Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr electoral district in the

Parliament of Iran The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Pa ...

and serves as its First Deputy Speaker since 29 May 2016. He was Minister of Health between 2001 and 2005 in the cabinet of President

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to ...

Career

He was the chancellor of

Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TUOMS) ( Persian: دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تبریز, ''Danushgah-e 'lum-e Pezeshki-ye Tebriz'') is public medical sciences university located in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, Iran. It is ran ...

for 7 years. He is a heart surgeon and an academic member of

at the present time. He is elected as one of Iranian parliament members from Tabriz in 2008 election. He had a speech on condemnation of violence against fraud in Iranian presidential election on June 30, 2009 in Iran parliament. In 2010, he failed in his bid to become deputy speaker of parliament. He is also a member of Iran-Turkey Friendship society.

Views

Pezeshkian supports teaching of

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

in Iranian schools. During the

Mahsa Amini protests Civil unrest and protests against the government of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini ( fa, مهسا امینی) began on 16 September 2022 and are ongoing as of December 2022. Amini had been arrested by the Guida ...

in September 2022, Pezeshkian said in an interview, "It is our fault. We want to implement religious faith through the use of force. This is scientifically impossible."

COVID-19 outbreak

On 3 March 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Iran Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, Pezeshkian claimed that the figures reported by Iran’s

health ministry A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entity, Subnational entities, such as State (administrative division), states, county, counties an ...

are "not real".

References

Living people Deputies of Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr Government ministers of Iran People from Tabriz Members of the 9th Islamic Consultative Assembly Members of the 8th Islamic Consultative Assembly Iranian surgeons Iranian cardiac surgeons People from Mahabad 1954 births Iranian reformists Tabriz University of Medical Sciences alumni University of Tehran alumni Members of the 10th Islamic Consultative Assembly Members of the 11th Islamic Consultative Assembly First Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Tabriz University of Medical Sciences faculty Impeached Iranian officials {{Iran-politician-stub