From Information Clearing House
Raisi, Iran's new president
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Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as the eightth president of Iran this Thursday at the Majlis (Parliament), two days after being formally endorsed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei.
Representatives of the UN secretary-general; OPEC; the EU; the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU); the Inter-Islamic Union; and quite a few heads of state and Foreign Ministers were at the Majlis, including Iraq President Barham Salih and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
The Islamic Republic of Iran now enters a new era in more ways than one. Khamenei himself outlined its contours in a short, sharp speech, "The Experience of Trusting the US."
Khamenei's strategic analysis, conveyed even before the final result of the JCPOA negotiations in Vienna in 2015, which I covered in my Asia Times ebook Persian Miniatures, turned out to be premonitory: "During the negotiations I repeatedly said they don't uphold their promises." So, in the end, "the experience tells us this is a deadly poison for us...During the Rouhani administration, Khamenei adds, "it became clear that trusting the West doesn't work."
With perfect timing, a new, six-volume book, Sealed Secret, co-written by outgoing Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and two top JCPOA negotiators, Ali Akbar Salehi and Seyed Abbas Araghchi (who's still involved in the current, stalled Vienna debate) will be published this week, for the moment only in Farsi.
Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran summed up for me the road map ahead: "Iran's foreign policy decisions are pretty clear. Iran will be putting less emphasis on Western nations, especially European, and more emphasis on the Global South, the East, neighboring countries, and of course that will include China and Russia. That doesn't mean the Iranians are going to ignore Europe altogether, if they decide to return to the JCPOA. The Iranians would accept if they abide by their obligations. So far, we have seen no sign of that whatsoever."
Marandi could not help referring to Khamenei's speech: "It's pretty clear; he's saying, 'we don't trust the West, these last eight years showed that,' he's saying the next administration should learn from the experience of eight years."
Yet the main challenge for Raisi will not be foreign policy, but the domestic framework, with sanctions still biting hard: "With regard to economic policy, it will be tilting more towards social justice and turning away from neoliberalism, expanding the safety net for the disenfranchised and the vulnerable."
It's quite intriguing to compare Marandi with the views of a seasoned Iranian diplomat who prefers to remain anonymous, and very well positioned as an observer of the domestic conflict:
"During Rouhani's eight years, contrary to the Supreme Leader's advice, the government spent lots of time on negotiations, and they have not been investing on internal potential. Anyhow the eight years are now finished, and contrary to Rouhani's promises we currently have Iran's worst economic and financial record in 50 years."
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