Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, formally endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian as the country's president on Sunday, ahead of his swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Pezeshkian, touted as a reformist, defeated his hardline rival, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, in a runoff election.
In a ceremony broadcast live on state television, Khamenei gave his approval for Pezeshkian, who won the election by pledging a pragmatic foreign policy and easing repression at home.
While improving Iran's relationships with the West is one of his stated goals, that does not include Israel. On the day of the first round of the elections, responding to a question from a journalist about how Iran would manage international relations if he were president, Pezeshkian replied, “God willing, we will try to have friendly relations with all countries except Israel.”
In a speech after endorsing Pezeskian on Sunday, the Supreme Leader reiterated Iran's longstanding anti-Israel stance.
"The Zionist regime (Israel) is not a state, it is a criminal gang, a bank of killers, and a terrorist band," Khamenei said in his speech.
Pezeshkian's victory lifted hopes of a thaw in Iran's antagonistic relations with the West that might create openings for defusing its nuclear dispute with world powers, though Khamenei has the final say in all state matters like the country's foreign and nuclear policy.
Pezeshkian’s anti-Israel comments are not surprising, as both moderates and hardliners have long been critical of Israel.
The country’s most recent “moderate” President was Hassan Rouhani, who was first elected in 2013 and reelected four years later.
Shortly after being elected in 2013, Rouhani called Israel an "old wound" that "should be removed". Iranian media later claimed that Rouhani’s remarks were distorted.
In 2018, Rouhani said that Israel “can never feel safe” because it is “oppressing the Palestinian nation.
He later called Israel a "cancerous tumor" and urged Muslim nations worldwide to unite and destroy Israel.