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ToggleIt faces great challenges, most notably Corona and the economy
In front of her major challenges highlighted by Corona and the economy, a raisi government undermine confidence
On Wednesday, August 25, the new Iranian government obtained confidence in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), and President Ebrahim Raisi pledged to “work around the clock” to address the challenges facing the country.
After five days of discussions and hearings, the Shura Council voted to grant confidence to 18 of the 19 ministers presented by the hard-line conservative president, while the nomination of the Minister of Education was rejected.
My boss will urgently have to submit a new candidate less than a month before the start of the new school year.
Raisi inherits a difficult situation, in a system in which the president has executive powers and forms the government, but the final say in high-level policies, including the nuclear file, rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian president announced that his team will start work without wasting a single minute
Vaccination is a priority
“We will hold the first cabinet meeting since tomorrow morning,” Raisi stressed in a speech he delivered in the Shura Council before the vote, adding that the government “will start work without wasting a single minute, and will continue to work around the clock to preserve the rights of the people and improve their current living conditions.”
“The Corona virus and the need to vaccinate everyone are our first priority,” he said.
Iran suffers from a difficult economic situation, mainly due to the sanctions that Washington re-imposed on it after the decision of former US President Donald Trump to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement on the Iranian nuclear file in 2018.
The country of 83 million people is also witnessing an economic and social crisis that has exacerbated With the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, in light of a fifth wave of infections, which is the most severe so far, it belongs to the delta mutant.
On Tuesday (24 August), Iran recorded 709 deaths from the Corona virus, in a new record daily, according to official figures.
The hard-line conservative Raisi, 60, won the June 18 elections, which saw a record abstention.
He was sworn in in the Shura Council in early August, to succeed the moderate Hassan Rouhani, whose reign was marked by a policy of relative openness to the West, the most prominent of which was the conclusion of the 2015 nuclear agreement with the major powers, which allowed the lifting of economic sanctions that were imposed on Tehran, before Washington restored Many of them were imposed after their unilateral withdrawal from the agreement.
Raisi was sworn in on the fifth of August before the Shura Council, but the current government is in charge of the business until the council approves the new government formation.
Nuclear negotiations
With the Shura Council approving the eligibility of the new conservative government team made up of exclusively men, Raisi begins implementing his program.
Raisi had announced last Saturday that the two files of combating the Covid-19 epidemic and promoting the economy would top the agenda of his government.
Abroad, Westerners, Russians and Chinese are awaiting any indication of Iran’s intention to resume the talks that began last April, in an effort to salvage the Vienna Agreement.
Six rounds of nuclear talks were held in Vienna between April and June. No date has been set for a new round of talks, the resumption of which is linked to Raisi’s assumption of his duties.
On June 20, following his election victory, Raisi announced his refusal to conduct “negotiations for the sake of negotiations,” but stressed that he supported “any talks that guarantee our national interests,” and that any negotiation must lead to “results” for the Iranian people.
The Vienna talks between Iran and the parties to the agreement, with the indirect participation of the United States, aim to revive the agreement by concluding an understanding that allows for the lifting of sanctions, in exchange for Iran’s return to full respect for its commitments that it began to retreat from after the American withdrawal.
Baghdad summit
On another diplomatic issue, one of the first decisions expected of the new government will deal with the level of Iran’s representation at the summit to be held next Saturday, in Baghdad, in order to “address the crises afflicting the region,” which Iraq announced that it had called for Raisi.
And to the ministers, the government includes a number of vice presidents who are not accountable to the Shura Council and whose full list is not yet known. Four names have been known of them so far, one of them is the former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Mohsen Rezaei, who was appointed Vice President for Economic Affairs and Secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination.