Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Monday ruled out a meeting with President Joe Biden and in response to CNN called on the United States to return to the nuclear deal, in his first international news conference since he won Iran’s election over the weekend.
Raisi said he would not meet with Biden, even if both sides agreed on terms to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran agreed to stop uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of crippling US sanctions.
On Saturday, the hardline judiciary chief and staunch Western critic was declared the winner of a historically uncompetitive election in Iran. All of Raisi’s serious rivals were barred from the race and overall voter turnout was 48.8%, the lowest figure since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
He will become the country’s eighth president when he takes over from Hassan Rouhani in August. Iran is currently indirectly negotiating with the US in Vienna over how to salvage the nuclear agreement, which the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from in 2018.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS