Nuclear negotiations continue after Raisi's victory in Iran

The victory of ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi creates a new political stage in Iran. Internally, he has pledged to fight corruption and improve the economic situation of young people. He has also declared that his government will boost production through "efficient management". The new president will have to deal with the severe economic crisis in the country, accentuated by US sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.

On the foreign policy front, negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal are in the international community's focus. These talks began in April with the aim of getting the US to return to the deal and Iran to comply with it in full. Former president Donald Trump decided to leave the deal in 2018. Since then, Tehran has not respected it, enriching uranium with a purity of 60%, well above the permitted level (3.67%). Moreover, this percentage is close to that needed to produce a nuclear bomb (90%).

The new president, Raisi, came to stand with Iranian opponents of the nuclear deal, although during the campaign he promised to respect any compromises agreed by the previous administration. However, he announced his plan to form a "strong" government to steer the deal in "the right direction".

Despite Raisi's recent victory and the uncertainty surrounding the 2015 agreement with the new government, nuclear negotiations continue. This Sunday, the five major powers, China, France, Germany, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom, met again in Vienna with Iran. This summit is the sixth round of meetings on the nuclear deal.

The United States has expressed its desire to continue to make progress in the negotiations despite the change of presidency. "We would like to continue the significant progress that has been made during the last few rounds of talks in Vienna," a State Department spokesman said. Washington has also commented on Raisi's victory, lamenting that Iranian citizens were denied "a free and fair electoral process". Despite the criticism, the US has pledged to continue the negotiating process.

Israel, Iran's great enemy, has followed the US line, calling Raisi's victory "a great challenge to Israel and the West". The Mossad has also claimed that the cleric's election "radicalises Iran's foreign, nuclear and terrorist policies".

Amnesty International has also been critical of the new Iranian president. The organisation has called for an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity. It accuses Raisi of involvement in a series of executions against thousands of political opponents in the 1980s. Human Rights Watch also points to him as an "overseer of some of the most heinous crimes in Iran's recent history".

The current Iranian executive, which will remain in power until Raisi takes office in August, hopes that a resolution will be reached before the new government is officially formed. "There is a good chance that we will reach an agreement before the end of our term," foreign minister Javad Zarif said. "The text is getting cleaner and cleaner," Zarif added.

However, not all countries conducting the negotiations agree with the Iranian minister. "An agreement to restore the nuclear deal is within our reach, but it has not yet been concluded," said Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov. "Some difficult issues take a long time and remain unresolved," he added. Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, agrees with Ulyanov, saying there are still "important deagreements".

Despite differing views, negotiators still have several weeks to reach an agreement before the handover of power in Tehran.