very conservative Ibrahim Al Raisi took office This Tuesday as president of Iran, the country affected by the economic crisis hit by US sanctions and the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.
Raisi, who won the presidential elections in June – It was marked by a strong abstention He succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani, who in 2015 concluded an agreement on Iranian nuclear energy with the major powers, after several years of tension on this issue.
The former head of the judiciary, Raisi, 60, officially begins his four-year term after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei approved the elections. “According to the people’s choice, I approve the wise, indefatigable, experienced and popular Ibrahim Raisi as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ayatollah wrote in a decree read out by the chief of staff.
Ali Khamenei is expected to speak on Tuesday after a statement by the new president, during a ceremony to which a limited number of dignitaries were invited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, the president took the oath before Parliament, when he must then present the candidates for the new executive branch ministers.
In recent years, sanctions imposed by Washington have affected the Iranian economy, including halting oil exports.
In 2017, 2018 and later in 2019, there were several demonstrations in the country, in the context of social discontent linked to the economic situation. And last July, the people of Kuzistan Province (southwest) demonstrated against the lack of water. The economic crisis has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic: Iran is the country most affected by the pandemic in the Middle East.
On the other hand, Ayatollah Khamenei said last week that the West cannot be trusted, referring to negotiations on International Treaty on Nuclear Energy.
US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to return to the 2015 agreement by entering indirect negotiations with Iran in the Vienna negotiations with the other countries party to the treaty: the People’s Republic of China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. .
Meanwhile, a new incident points to tensions with the West: Washington and London have joined Israel in accusing Iran of being responsible for an attack on a billionaire Israeli oil tanker that killed two people on July 29. The United States threatened to respond with an “appropriate response.”
Iran denies any involvement, warning that it will respond to any kind of “adventurism”.
