TEHERAN • Ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was yesterday inaugurated as President of Iran, a country whose hopes of shaking off a dire economic crisis hinge 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 read out by his chief of staff.
Mr Raisi replaces moderate president Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six major powers.
From the outset, Mr Raisi will have to tackle negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal from which the United States unilaterally withdrew.
Mr Raisi, in his inauguration speech, said his government would seek to get "oppressive" US sanctions lifted, but would "not tie the nation's standard of living to the will of foreigners".
The 60-year-old also faces warnings to Iran from the US, Britain and Israel over a deadly tanker attack last week for which Teheran denies responsibility.
Mr Raisi won a presidential election in June in which more than half the electorate stayed away after many political heavyweights were barred from standing. A former judiciary chief, he has been criticised by the West for his human rights record.
Yesterday's ceremony marked Mr Raisi's formal accession to office. He will then be sworn in before Parliament tomorrow, when he is to submit his proposed government line-up.
Mr Raisi's presidency will consolidate power 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 called on Parliament for "cooperation" to increase 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 said at the time.
Iran's economic woes, exacerbated by US sanctions, will be the new president's top challenge, said Mr 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 others such as Russia and China, Mr Therme said.
In 2018, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord and ramped up sanctions again, prompting Teheran to pull back from most of its nuclear commitments. Mr Trump's successor, Mr 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.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
