Iran to elect president amid nuclear talks, sanctions pain

GBNEWS24 DESK//

Iranian voters are to elect a new president Friday, with the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi expected to replace the moderate Hassan Rouhani after a host of candidates were disqualified.

The vote comes at a time when the recession-hit country is in talks with world powers to revive a battered 2015 nuclear deal and eager to end a punishing US sanctions regime.

Buzz has been minimal in Tehran, where campaign posters are sparse, as observers expect no major surprises and countrywide turnout is predicted to hit a new low among an electorate exhausted by social and economic crisis.

Ultimate power in Iran since the 1979 revolution lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the president has significant influence on issues from industrial policy to foreign affairs.

The landmark achievement of Rouhani’s two consecutive four-year terms, the maximum allowed, was the accord under which Tehran accepted limits on its nuclear programme in return for relief from international sanctions.

But hopes that Iran would reap the benefits were dashed three years ago when then-US president Donald Trump ripped up the deal and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign to diplomatically and economically isolate it.

The country of 83 million, blocked by the US from selling its oil to and trading with much of the world, was plunged into recession while Rouhani and his camp were harshly criticised by ultraconservatives for having trusted the West.

Iran saw anti-government unrest in the winter of 2017-18 and again in November 2019 — harshly put down both times — before the Covid-19 pandemic came and hit Iran harder than any other country in the region.