Iran president says missile program, proxy support not up for negotiation

Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi says he’s not willing to negotiate over Tehran’s ballistic missile program, nor its support of regional militias, and is wary of talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

“Any negotiations that guarantee national interests will certainly be supported, but… we will not allow negotiations to be for negotiation’s sake,” he says in his first press conference, adding that his election on Friday followed a “massive” voter turnout.

He also says he’s not willing to meet US President Joe Biden, and calls himself “a defender of human rights” after being asked directly about his involvement in the 1988 mass executions of some 5,000 people.

Raisi was part of a so-called “death panel” that sentenced political prisoners to death at the end of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.