During the ceremony in Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi obtained the support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest spiritual and political leader of Iran. Iran’s new president announced that his government would take steps to lift US “tyrannical” sanctions.
After gaining the support of Iran’s highest spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, announced that he would improve the state of the country’s economy, devastated by US “tyrannical” sanctions, re-imposed in 2018 after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement Iran’s nuclear power plant with world powers in 2015.
Iran’s new president. What Ebrahim Raisi announces
Ayatollah Khamenei has the last word in all state affairs, but – as Reuters points out – the change in the presidency will remove the moderating influence that since 2013 has been exerting on policy-making by a relatively moderate clergyman who is considered to be a pragmatist, former President Hasan Rowhani.
Ebrahim Raisi, who will officially take office on Thursday, said in a televised speech that his government would try to improve Iranian living conditions, which have worsened due to sanctions, Reuters reports.
Ebrahim Raisi at the ceremony in TehranIRAN’S PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE / PAP / EPA
Negotiations to restore the nuclear deal
Tehran and the six powers have been discussing the restoration of the nuclear deal since April, but both Iranian and Western officials maintain that there are significant differences between them.
The sixth round of indirect talks in Vienna between Tehran and Washington was interrupted on June 20, two days after Raisi was elected president. The parties involved in the negotiations have not yet announced when the next round will take place.
Main photo source: IRAN’S PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE / PAP / EPA