Reformist heart surgeon wins Iran presidency

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran's runoff presidential election, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic republic.

Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, promised no radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy in his campaign and has long held supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state. But even Pezeshkian's modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels with enough of a stockpile to produce several nuclear weapons if it chose.

An official vote count put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili's 13.5 million in Friday's election. Overall, 30 million people voted in an election held without internationally recognized monitors, representing a turnout of 49.6 percent - higher than the historic low of the June 28 first round vote but lower than other presidential races.

ASSOCIATED PRESS