Date: Thursday 18 April | Location: Online Webinar | Time: 14:00 – 15:00 (UTC+1)

Iran held elections to the Majles (Parliament) and the Assembly of Experts — which will eventually elect the successor to the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — on 1 March. It was the first election since the security forces clamped down on the nationwide Woman-Life-Freedom protests in 2022. The 41% nationwide voter turnout — the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — indicates that the regime has not succeeded in easing domestic tensions.

The elections were engineered to enable the hardline forces to further consolidate their grip on power. They sacrificed popular legitimacy to achieve total control over the political processes, including the succession to the Supreme Leader. But what will the political fallout be from the deepening fissures between regime and society?

The webinar will therefore:

• Analyse the 1 March election results; 
• Assess the impact on Iran’s overall foreign policy direction
• Identify succession scenarios and what they mean for Iran’s security, regional and international policies;
• Analyse Iran-US relations in light of the US election cycle

Speaker

Dr Bijan Khajehpour is a managing partner at the Vienna-based Eurasian Nexus Partners and a Senior Associate at Menas Associates. Bijan is: a commentator on energy geopolitics; an analyst of Iran’s political, economic, and business developments; a member of the European Middle East Research Group’s (EMERG) advisory board. He has been widely published in international books and media. He completed his graduate studies in management and economy in Germany and the UK and his Doctorate of Business Administration at the International School of Management in Paris.