Pezeshkian has criticized the Iranian system multiple times. During the 2009 post-election protests, in a speech, Pezeshkian criticized the way the protesters were treated. In his speech, he mentioned the words of the first Shiite Imam [Ali] addressed to Malik Ashtar not to treat people “like a wild animal”.
Pezeshkian considered Iran’s method of managing the 2018 protests as “scientifically and intellectually wrong”. He blamed the country’s system for all the events and said: “We should have done better.” After the 2022 protests, Pezeshkian demanded the creation of an assessment and clarification team regarding the death of Mahsa Amini. Although he considered the way of dealing with the protesters and their trial to be contrary to the constitution and demanded that the defendants should get lawyers, he later issued a statement, condemned the protests and did not consider it to be in the people’s interest.