TEHRAN, Iran (AP) 鈥 Iran swore in the country's new president on Tuesday, with the reformist politician and heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian pledging that his administration will keep trying to remove economic sanctions imposed by the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
Pezeshkian delivered a speech after taking his oath in a ceremony at the parliament in Tehran, Iran's capital. He said he considers the normalization of economic relations with the world to be Iran鈥檚 inalienable right.
"I will not stop trying to remove the oppressive sanctions,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 am optimistic about the future.鈥
Iran's supreme leader, , urging him to prioritize neighbors, African and Asian nations as well as countries that have 鈥渟upported and helped鈥 Iran in Tehran鈥檚 foreign relations policies.
Pezeshkian, a longtime lawmaker, won the July presidential election after his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a May helicopter crash that sparked the early election. He has two weeks to form his Cabinet for a vote of confidence in parliament.
The sanctions have hit Iran's vital oil exports, blocked transactions on international banking networks and spurred inflation, which is running at about 40%. The dollar is being traded for 584,000 Iranian rials, a dramatic plunge for the country's currency.
When the landmark nuclear deal was struck with world powers, the rial traded 32,000 to the dollar. Former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Iran has held indirect talks with the Biden administration, though there鈥檚 been no clear progress on constraining Tehran鈥檚 nuclear program nor the lifting of economic sanctions. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and geared towards generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients 鈥 not nuclear weapons.
鈥淧ressure and sanctions will not work on the Iranian nation,鈥 Pezeshkian said.
Pezeshkian's swearing-in ceremony was attended by representatives from more than 70 countries, as well as Enrique Mora, the European Union coordinator of nuclear talks. Emomali Rahman, Tajikistan鈥檚 president, also attended as did Iran's allies from Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad's Ziyad al Nakhaleh.
Iran has been challenged by the ongoing , and Western fears over Tehran with enough of a stockpile to produce several nuclear weapons if it chose.
In April, over the war in Gaza, while militia groups armed by Tehran 鈥 such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen鈥檚 Houthi rebels 鈥 are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.
In his speech, Pezeshkian spoke in support of Palestinians, saying 鈥淚ran demands a word where no Palestinian child鈥檚 dreams are buried under the rubble of their home."
鈥淲e are seeking a world where the proud people of Palestine are freed from occupation, oppression and imprisonment and genocide,鈥 Pezeshkian said.
