
Iran's Raisi Faces Early Tests on Economy, Tension With West
Voice of America
TEHRAN, IRAN - Ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi is to be inaugurated Tuesday as the new president of Iran, a country facing economic and health crises as well as tensions with the West.
He replaces moderate president Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. From the outset, Raisi will have to tackle the nuclear talks aimed at reviving the deal from which the United States unilaterally withdrew. The 60-year-old also faces the United States, Britain and Israel's warnings to Iran over a deadly tanker attack, for which Tehran denies responsibility.
Local officials and navy personnel attend a joint Iranian, Russian and Chinese military drill in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12, 2025. (Iranian Army Office via AFP) Chinese navy troops attending a joint naval drill with Iran and Russia stand on the deck of their warship in an official arrival ceremony at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 11, 2025.

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