Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian sworn in, aims to have sanctions lifted
Iran has sworn in the country’s new president, with the reformist politician and heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian pledging that his administration will keep trying to remove foreign economic sanctions imposed over the country’s nuclear program.
Pezeshkian delivered a speech after taking his oath in a ceremony at the parliament in Tehran, Iran’s capital.
He said he considers the normalisation of economic relations with the world to be Iran’s inalienable right.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I will not stop trying to remove the oppressive sanctions,” he said.
“I am optimistic about the future.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday officially endorsed Pezeshkian, urging him to prioritise neighbours, African and Asian countries as well as others that have “supported and helped” Iran in its foreign relations policies.
Pezeshkian, a longtime parliamentarian, won the July presidential election after his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a May helicopter crash that sparked the early election.
He has two weeks to form his cabinet for a vote of confidence in parliament.
The sanctions have hit Iran’s vital oil exports, blocked transactions on international banking networks and spurred inflation, which is running at about 40 per cent.
The US dollar is being traded for 584,000 Iranian rials, a dramatic plunge for the country’s currency.
When the landmark nuclear deal was struck with world powers, the rial traded at 32,000 to the US dollar.
Former president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Iran has held indirect talks with the current US administration although there has been no clear progress on constraining Iran’s nuclear program nor the lifting of economic sanctions.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and geared towards generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients - not nuclear weapons.
“Pressure and sanctions will not work on the Iranian people,” Pezeshkian said.
Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony was attended by representatives from more than 70 countries, as well as Enrique Mora, the European Union co-ordinator of nuclear talks.
Emomali Rahman, Tajikistan’s president, also attended as did Iran’s allies from Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad’s Ziyad al Nakhaleh.
