NEW DELHI: Iran’s newly elected president Ebrahim Raisi is considered an uncompromising hardliner by the West. He also has a controversial past. Raisi has been personally sanctioned by the US in 2019 for human rights violations as he sat on the infamous ‘death tribunals which authorised the killings of thousands of political prisoners. Considered to be close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, Raisi’s victory suggests a tightening of the regime and a return to the Revolutionary Iran of 1979. How the US, the West and regional players deal with Iran’s new president who takes office in August will determine the course of events in the Middle East and beyond.
