What Ebrahim Raisi’s election means for Iran and the nuclear deal

EBRAHIM RAISI will not meet Joe Biden. Nor will he negotiate over Iran’s missile programme. And he’s certainly not going to stop supporting the militias that project Iranian influence in the region. Soon Mr Raisi will be president of Iran. At his first press conference since winning office the hardline cleric and former head of the judiciary offered a preview of his administration. He seems keener to confront the world than engage with it.That is no surprise. Mr Raisi is a protégé of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is consolidating power in the hands of hardliners. The election on June 18th was anything but fair. Of the nearly 600 candidates who registered to run, all but seven were disqualified by the Guardian Council, including a former president, a current vice-president and Iran’s longest-serving speaker of parliament. (Three of the seven dropped out later.)