Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave Sunday his official endorsement of Masoud Pezeshkian as the Islamic republic's ninth president, following snap elections that had concluded earlier this month.
In a message read by the director of Khamenei's office, he said: "I endorse the vote (for) the wise, honest, popular and scholarly Mr. Pezeshkian, and I am appointing him as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran".
The new president, considered a "reformist" in Iran, is due to be sworn in before parliament on Tuesday.