Massoud Pezeshkian.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iranians broadly deplore Western sanctions that have battered the economy, but the country’s six presidential candidates offer differing solutions — assuming the winner gets a say on foreign policy.

With the June 28 snap election fast approaching, debates between the candidates vying for Iran’s second-highest office have featured a key question: should Tehran mend ties with the West?

Under the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died last month in a helicopter crash, Western governments have expanded sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme as well as its support for militant groups across West Asia and for Russia in its war in Ukraine. The sanctions have sharply reduced Iran’s oil revenues, heavily restricted trade and contributed to soaring inflation, high unemployment and a record low for the Iranian rial against the U.S. dollar.

In two televised debates focused on the economy ahead of the presidential polls, “almost all the candidates explained that the sanctions have had devastating effects”, said Fayyaz Zahed, a professor of international relations at the University of Tehran.

While the six contenders — five conservatives and a sole reformist — have all vowed to tackle the economic hardships, they offered varying views on Iran’s relations with the West. “If we could lift the sanctions, Iranians could live comfortably,” said reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian, considered one of three frontrunners.

Mr. Pezeshkian, who is backed by key reformist groups in Iran, called for “constructive relations” with Washington and European capitals in order to “get Iran out of its isolation”.

Meanwhile, ultraconservative candidate Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, has called for Tehran to press ahead with its long-running anti-Western policy. “The international community is not made up of just two or three Western countries,” Mr. Jalili has repeatedly said in debates and campaign rallies.

Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi shake hands after a joint press conference in Isfahan, Iran, May 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, visiting Iran on Tuesday, urged the country to adopt “concrete” measures to bolster cooperation on its nuclear programme and address the international community’s concerns.

At a news conference in the city of Isfahan, Mr. Grossi said he had proposed in talks with Iranian officials that they “focus on the very concrete, very practical and tangible measures that can be implemented in order to accelerate” cooperation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency director-general held talks with senior Iranian officials including Atomic Energy Organization’s head Mohammad Eslami.

Settling differences

Mr. Grossi insisted on the need to “settle differences” on the nuclear issue while West Asia was going through “difficult times”, particularly with the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Sometimes, political conditions pose obstacles to full-fledged cooperation” between Iran and the international community, he said.

To overcome these obstacles, he said, “we need to come up with concrete steps that are going to be helpful in bringing us closer to these solutions that we all need”.

Mr. Grossi said a March 2023 deal with Iran was “still valid” but required more “substance”.

The agreement was reached during Mr. Grossi’s last visit to Iran and outlined basic cooperation measures including on safeguards and monitoring.