Ebrahim Raisi Sworn In as New President of Iran

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ebrahim Raisi took an oath of office as the new president of Iran on Thursday, the IRIB broadcaster reported.

The inauguration ceremony took place in the parliament building in Tehran. The event drew over 200 guests from 80 countries and was aired online. On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei endorsed Raisi as the 13th president of Iran. Following his inauguration, Raisi will present a list of new cabinet ministers.

In his inauguration speech, Raisi addressed the issue of sanctions imposed on Iran.

"The sanctions against the Iranian people must be lifted, we support any 'diplomatic mechanism' that will make this happen," the president-elect said, as quoted by IRIB.

Speaking about the country's nuclear program, Raisi emphasized that building nuclear weapons is not in the country's defence strategy.

"Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, and, according to the fatwa [nonbinding legal opinion] of the Supreme Leader, nuclear weapons are prohibited and they have no place in Iran's defence strategy," the new leader added.

Raisi won the June 18 presidential race in Iran with nearly 62% of the vote to replace Hassan Rouhani, who has served the maximum two terms in office

Raisi, 60, was born in Mashhad to a Persian clerical family of Sayyids, descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. At the age of 15, he enrolled in the Qom Seminary — the largest Shi’a seminary in Iran. For 40 years of his life, the newly-elected Iranian president worked in the judiciary. He was appointed as Tehran prosecutor in 1989, the head of the General Inspection Office in 1994, prosecutor-general of Iran in 2014 and chief justice in 2019.

The president of Iran, popularly elected for a four-year term with further approval by the religious elite needed, holds the second most influential position in the country after the supreme leader, who represents a religious component of Iran’s dualistic political system.