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Ebrahim Raisi

U.S. blocks websites linked to Iranian disinformation

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday blocked some three dozen websites, many of them associated with Iranian disinformation activities, a U.S. government source said, adding an official announcement was expected. The source in Washington spoke after notices appeared earlier on Tuesday on a number of Iran-affiliated websites saying they had been seized by the United States government as part of law enforcement action. Iranian news agencies said that the U.S. government had seized several Iranian media websites and sites belonging to groups affiliated with Iran such as Yemen’s Houthi movement. Some sites later started to display as normal. The website of the Arabic-language Masirah TV, which is run by the Houthis, read: “The domain almasirah.net has been seized by the United States Governm...

White House: No plans for Joe Biden to meet new Iranian leader

There are currently no plans for U.S. President Joe Biden to meet with Iran’s newly elected leader, according to the White House, which downplayed Ebrahim Raisi’s influence. Raisi, a strident critic of the West, will take over from pragmatist Hassan Rouhani on Aug. 3 after an election on Friday. In a news conference on Monday, he backed talks to salvage a tattered nuclear deal with Washington but ruled out personally meeting with Biden. read more White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that little had changed because Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the key decision maker in Tehran. “We don’t currently have any diplomatic relations with Iran or any plans to meet at the leader level,” she told reporters. “Our view is that the decision maker here is the Supreme Leader.” ...

Iran summons UK envoy over alleged attacks on expat voters

Iran summoned Britain’s ambassador Saturday to protest what it said were violent incidents targeting its expatriates as they voted in presidential elections at polling stations set up in the UK. A foreign ministry spokesman in the Islamic republic said such acts included the “beating” of a female voter. The violence was perpetrated by “anti-revolutionary, anti-democratic and terrorist elements insulting the voters and staff,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement. Iranian media had reported several incidents on Friday on the sidelines of the vote organised for Iranian citizens abroad at sites in Britain, the United States, Australia and in other countries. Iranian ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was on Saturday declared the winner of the presidential race, on a voter turnout of 48.8...

Iran says nuclear talks policy won’t change after presidential vote

Iran’s policy in talks with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear accord will remain unchanged after a June 18 presidential election because the issue is decided by its highest leadership, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. A host of barriers to the revival of the nuclear deal remain firmly in place ahead of talks due to resume this week, suggesting a return to compliance with the accord is still a way off, diplomats, Iranian officials and analysts said. “We have shown that we adhere to our international obligations under all circumstances, and this was a national decision,” cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei told a weekly news conference. Rabiei said Iran’s nuclear policy, set by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not linked to internal developments and that the new government wou...