Iran’s president-elect Ebrahim Raisi declines possibility of meeting with Joe Biden

Following his overwhelming victory in last week's election, Iran's president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi declared on Monday that he would neither meet with President Joe Biden or negotiate over Tehran's ballistic missile programme or backing for regional militias.

Raisi was clear in his statement about US, he said, “The US is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran."

The 60-year-old said flatly replied, "No," when asked about a prospective meeting with Biden. Abdolnasser Hemmati, his moderate opponent in the election, had hinted during campaigning that he may be open to meet with Biden.

Raisi's remarks elicited no instant response from the White House. Raisi will be the first serving Iranian president to be sanctioned by the US government, in part because of his tenure as the head of Iran's much maligned judiciary.

When questioned about his role in the 1988 mass execution of nearly 5,000 people, Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi identified himself as a "defender of human rights." This was the first time he had been confronted on live television about that awful period in Iranian history at the end of the Iraq war.

Raisi, in the press conference was placed behind a multitude of microphones, the majority of which came from Iran and nations where Tehran-backed militias operate. He appeared anxious at first, but as the hour-long press conference progressed, he got more at ease.

The president-elect labelled Iran's ballistic missile programme and backing for regional militias as "non-negotiable" when asked about them.

Raisi who is a protégé of Ayatollah Ali Khanmenei was elected the President, which came after the lowest voter turnout in the country’s history. The turnout in Tehran was 34%, significantly lower than previous years, with many voting stations in the capital conspicuously vacant.

He received 17.9 million votes, or roughly 62 percent of the total 28.9 million ballots cast, according to official statistics.