Iran's new administration urged to curb impacts of sanctions
In a meeting with a number of intellectual women in Tehran on
Tuesday, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani expressed hope that the
next administration would "take practical steps" and adopt a
foreign policy based on "real interaction" with the world in order
to curb the effects of the sanctions on ordinary citizens.
He said the administration of President-elect Hassan Rohani will
have to solve a range of economic problems through cooperation with
the Judiciary and the Majlis (Parliament).
Rafsanjani also urged Rohani to adopt pragmatic policies on
domestic and foreign fronts, and advised him not to monopolize
power.
Rohani won 50.7 percent of the June 14 presidential election to
secure an outright victory. In the Iranian system, if no
presidential candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the two top
candidates must face off in a run-off election.
Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million
first-time voters, were eligible to participate in the presidential
election. The Interior Ministry put the voter turnout at 72.7
percent.
Rohani currently represents Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in the Supreme National Security
Council and is also a member of the Expediency Council and the
Assembly of Experts. He is also the director of the Expediency
Council's Center for Strategic Research.