Iranian Hard-Liner Wins Presidency Amid Nuclear Talks – By Aresu Eqbali, Sune Engel Rasmussen (The Wall Street Journal) / June 20 2021
TEHRAN—A hard-line Iranian judge opposed to the country’s outreach to the West won Iran’s presidential election, consolidating conservative control over the country’s politics, as Tehran attempts to revive an international nuclear accord that would free the country of some U.S. sanctions.
Ebrahim Raisi received 17.9 million votes, or about 62% of the ballots cast, according to Iran’s interior ministry.
Mr. Raisi’s main challenger, Abdolnaser Hemmati, the only moderate candidate left in the race, received about 8.5% of the vote.
Iran’s current president, Hassan Rouhani, visited Mr. Raisi on Saturday to congratulate him on the victory.
