Taghribnews (TNA) - Endorsement ceremony of Ebrahim Raeisi held in presence of Leader

Attended by the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei and a number of officials and luminaries, Ebrahim Raeisi has officially taken office as the 8th president of the Islamic Republic in a ceremony held in Tehran on Tuesday morning.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s decree, endorsing the presidential mandate of Raeisi, was read out at the event by head of the leader's office.

In the decree, the Leader called on the new president to work toward activating the country’s capabilities and paving the way for a leap forward in all sectors, placing an especial emphasis on economy.

“Today, our dear country is thirsty for valuable service and is ready to make a leap in all areas. The country needs competent, jihadi, intelligent, courageous management that can organize the manifest and hidden capabilities of the nation — in particular those of the youth, which are much greater in scope than the problems,” read the decree.

A management is needed that can bring these capabilities into the field for constructive work and endeavor, eliminate the obstacles in the way of production, seriously pursue policies for strengthening the national currency, and empower the middle and lower classes of society that are shouldering the burden of economic problems, it added.

In a speech, President Raeisi described the June 18 election as a manifestation of religious democracy in the Islamic Republic.

“Despite all the hostilities of the enemies, the health conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic and other problems, the people had a magnificent presence and created a great epic in this election, which disappointed the enemies and gave hope to friends,” he said.

Through their participation in the election, Raeisi said, the people sent the message that they demanded “change, justice and fight against corruption, poverty and discrimination.”

Above all, the people’s trust in the administration has sustained more damage than their livelihood, said Raeisi, adding that the people, through their presence in the vote, conveyed the message that they wanted the new administration “to restore that trust and decrease the gap between the people and the administration.”

The relationship between the nation and the administration could serve as the key to resolving the problems and help the country stand against the enmities, he said.

Raeisi also called on all people, including intellectuals, thinkers, and officials, to enter the scene and help bring about the necessary change.

“We will certainly seek the lifting of oppressive sanctions, but we will not condition the people’s livelihood and the economy [on the sanctions] and will not tie them to the will of foreigners,” he added.

The leader delivered a speech at the event, before which President Raeisi took the podium.

The ceremony took place at Imam Khomeini Hosseiniyeh in Tehran in full compliance with COVID safety protocols and was attended by the country’s senior state and military officials.

Press TV provided a live coverage of the event. You can tune in to our Twitter account to watch the ceremony:

The endorsement ceremony of Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi as Iran's new president https://t.co/a1Co4Kfg1L
— Press TV (@PressTV) August 3, 2021

At the start of the ceremony, Minister of Interior Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli presented a report on the June 18 presidential election, which saw Raeisi emerge as the winner.

Airports in Tehran were closed for two and a half hours, and traffic restrictions were in place on the streets near the venue of the ceremony on Tuesday, the capital’s Traffic Police announced.

Raeisi, the eighth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, won almost 62 percent of the votes in the June 18 presidential election and will succeed President Hassan Rouhani, who served two four-year terms in office.
Raeisi will take an oath of office in an inauguration ceremony at the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) on Thursday.

Seyyed Nezamoddin Mousavi, the spokesman for the Parliament’s presidium, said Monday that a long list of foreign officials and political figures have accepted Iran's invitation to attend the event despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said 115 officials from 73 countries have already declared their readiness to attend the inauguration ceremony.

The list includes 10 heads of state, 20 parliament speakers, 11 foreign ministers and 10 ministers, as well as special envoys, deputy parliament speakers and chairmen of parliamentary commissions and parliamentary delegations, the lawmaker said.

The heads of 11 international and regional organizations and the representative of the UN chief, along with officials from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the European Union (EU), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation also known as Developing-8 have been invited to the event.

Mousavi said 170 domestic and foreign journalists have also received invitations to provide coverage of the event.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, President of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani and Serbia’s Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic are said to be among the guests at the inauguration ceremony.