Tehran:
Ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was Tuesday inaugurated as president of Iran, a nation whose hopes of shaking off a dire financial crisis hinges on reviving a nuclear deal with world powers.
“Following the people’s choice, I task the wise, indefatigable, experienced and popular Hojatoleslam Ebrahim Raisi as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote in a decree study out by his chief of employees.
Raisi replaces moderate president Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the 2015 nuclear agreement among Iran and six big powers.
From the outset, Raisi will have to tackle negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal from which the US unilaterally withdrew imposing sweeping sanctions.
Raisi, in his inauguration speech, stated the new government would seek to lift “oppressive” US sanctions, but would “not tie the nation’s standard of living to the will of foreigners”.
The 60-year-old also faces the United States, Britain and Israel’s warnings to Iran more than a deadly tanker attack last week for which Tehran denies duty.
Raisi won a presidential election in June in which more than half the electorate stayed away soon after lots of political heavyweights had been barred from standing.
A former judiciary chief, he has been criticised by the West for his human rights record.
Traffic limitations had been in force on streets about the inauguration venue with domestic air travel to and from the capital banned for two hours, media reports stated.
Tuesday’s ceremony marked Raisi’s formal accession to workplace. He will then be sworn in prior to parliament on Thursday when he is to submit his proposed government line-up.
Economy prime challenge
Raisi’s presidency will consolidate energy in the hands of conservatives following their 2020 parliamentary election victory, marked by the disqualification of thousands of reformist or moderate candidates.
Last month, he known as on parliament for “cooperation” to raise Iranians’ hope in the future.
“I am very hopeful for the country’s future and confident that it is possible to overcome difficulties and limitations,” he stated at the time.
Iran’s financial woes, exacerbated by US sanctions, will be the new president’s prime challenge, stated Clement Therme, a researcher at the European University Institute in Italy.
“His main objective will be to improve the economic situation by reinforcing the Islamic republic’s economic relations with neighbouring countries” and other individuals such as Russia and China, Therme stated.
The 2015 deal saw Iran accept curbs on its nuclear capabilities in return for an easing of sanctions.
But then US president Donald Trump withdrew from the accord 3 years later and ramped up sanctions once more, prompting Tehran to pull back from most of its nuclear commitments.
Trump’s successor Joe Biden has signalled his readiness to return to the deal and engaged in indirect negotiations with Iran alongside formal talks with the accord’s remaining parties — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
The US sanctions have choked Iran and its very important oil exports, and the economy contracted by more than six % in each 2018 and 2019.
US warns of ‘appropriate response’
In the winter of 2017-2018, and once more in 2019, street protests sparked by the financial crisis rocked the nation.
And last month, demonstrators in oil-wealthy Khuzestan province, which has been hit by drought, took to the streets to vent their anger.
On the foreign front, tensions have escalated soon after the United States and Britain joined Israel in blaming Tehran for a tanker attack off Oman last Thursday that killed a British safety guard and a Romanian crew member.
The United States vowed an “appropriate response”, when Iran warned Monday that it will respond to any “adventurism”.
The financial malaise has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has officially price more than 90,000 lives and also hit lots of Iranians in the pocket.
In his final cabinet meeting on Sunday, Rouhani defended his track record but apologised more than the “hardships” Iranians have had to endure.
After his election, Raisi made clear that his essential foreign policy would be to increase ties with regional nations.
In mid-July, Rouhani stated he hoped his successor can clinch a deal to lift US sanctions and conclude nuclear talks.
But Khamenei, whose word is final in policy matters, has warned against trusting the West.
Raisi has currently stated he will not hold talks just for the sake of negotiations.
His government will only assistance talks that “guarantee national interests”, the incoming president stated.
Six rounds of nuclear talks among Iran and world powers had been held in Vienna among April and June.
The last round concluded on June 20, and no date has been set for a resumption.
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