Ebrahim Raisi is set to be sworn in Thursday as Iran’s new president.The ultraconservative won a landslide election in June in a vote that drew record low turnout. A number of prominent candidates were disqualified from running.Raisi takes office at a time when Iran faces big economic challenges, including the effects of U.S. sanctions.Raisi said in a speech Tuesday that he would seek to “lift the tyrannical sanctions imposed by America,” and would not tie the country’s economy “to the will of foreigners.”The United States imposed new sanctions beginning in 2018, as it withdrew from the international agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.The two sides have held indirect talks about returning to compliance with the new agreement.Iran is also being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting record numbers of new cases this week.Raisi was appointed to head Iran’s judiciary in 2019. In November of that year, the United States placed him under sanctions for his involvement in the 1988 executions of thousands of political prisoners.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.

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