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New Iranian President to Take Oath Before Parliament

Ultraconservative former judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iranian president in June - AFP
Ultraconservative former judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iranian president in June - AFP
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New Iranian President to Take Oath Before Parliament

Ultraconservative former judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iranian president in June - AFP
Ultraconservative former judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iranian president in June - AFP

New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath before parliament Thursday, with Iran facing an economy battered by US sanctions, a grinding health crisis and thorny negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal.

The ultraconservative former judiciary chief officially began his four-year mandate on Tuesday after he was inaugurated by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Raisi takes over from moderate Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement during his two-term presidency was the 2015 agreement between the Islamic republic and six world powers, AFP reported.

The country has been grappling with a deep economic and social crisis following former president Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw the United States from the deal in 2018 and reimpose crushing sanctions.

"We believe the people's economic position is unfavorable, both because of the hostility of our enemies and because of the shortcomings and problems inside the country," Raisi said on Tuesday.

His new government would seek to lift "oppressive" sanctions, but would "not tie the nation's standard of living to the will of foreigners", he added.

The 60-year-old faces warnings to Iran from the United States, Britain and Israel over a deadly tanker attack last week, for which Tehran denies responsibility.

Iran is also battling the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than four million cases and upwards of 92,000 deaths.

Raisi, elected in June polls marked by record abstention after many heavyweights were barred from standing, is set to be sworn in before parliament at 5:00 pm (1230 GMT).

Local media said he was also expected to present his proposed cabinet line-up, ahead of the two-week deadline to do so.

Iranian media said several foreign officials had been invited to Thursday's ceremony, including the Iraqi president and parliament speakers from Niger, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Uzbekistan.

European Union diplomat and nuclear deal negotiator Enrique Mora, who met Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Tehran on Wednesday, is among representatives from the bloc expected to attend, according to the reports.

Six rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers were held in Vienna between April and June in an attempt to revive the accord. The last round concluded on June 20, with no date set for another.

Raisi's presidency is due to consolidate power in the hands of conservatives following their 2020 parliamentary election victory, which was marked by the disqualification of thousands of reformist or moderate candidates.

The new president got to work on Wednesday, chairing a coronavirus task force meeting and also seeing ministers from the outgoing administration, the presidency website said.

- 'Multiple challenges' -

The new president will have his work cut out for him on several fronts, several Iranian newspapers noted after his inauguration.

US sanctions have choked Iran and its vital oil exports, and the economy contracted by more than six percent in both 2018 and 2019.

Raisi will have to "face multiple challenges due to the high number of problems", an editorial in the ultraconservative Kayhan newspaper said Wednesday, including "unprecedented inflation", steep housing prices, a private-sector recession and "corruption".

Ultraconservative daily Javan called on the new government to "implement specific plans to resolve the urgent" problems.

It cited "water and electricity, basic products and vaccinations" as among issues that need to be resolved in the short term.

Rolling blackouts began in Tehran and other large cities last month, with officials blaming the impact of drought on hydroelectric power generation as well as surging demand.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Khuzestan province in the southwest over water shortages.

Reformist newspaper Sharq expressed the hope that "political games will make way for healthy intellectual rivalry and different discourse and voices" in the new government.

"That will only be possible by promoting press and media freedom and great tolerance on the part of government members," it added.

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World

Spanish Transport Minister Offers Resignation After Deadly Train Crash

Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente reacts during a press conference at the Transport ministry in Madrid on October 30, 2026. (AFP)
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente reacts during a press conference at the Transport ministry in Madrid on October 30, 2026. (AFP)
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Spanish Transport Minister Offers Resignation After Deadly Train Crash

Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente reacts during a press conference at the Transport ministry in Madrid on October 30, 2026. (AFP)
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente reacts during a press conference at the Transport ministry in Madrid on October 30, 2026. (AFP)

Spain's transport minister handed in his resignation on Tuesday following a train crash that killed 69 people, one of the worst railway disasters in Europe this century and a blow for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ahead of a snap poll this month.

Oscar Puente, who had earlier pledged to work "tirelessly" to restore confidence in the world's second-largest high-speed rail network, also said he was withdrawing from the November 29 general election.

Last week's crash, along with another disaster earlier this year, have overshadowed campaigning for the ballot, in which Sanchez is trailing in opinion polls.

"A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of such seriousness in less than a year, however different they may be, whether or not I bear direct responsibility," Puente told members of parliament, referring to the latest tragedy and a January crash in Andalusia that claimed 46 lives.

"I made my decision about my future in the first few minutes after the tragedy, as soon as I learned about it," he said.

"Today I am making that decision public, in the place where it is most appropriate to do so."

Puente said he was withdrawing as a candidate in the November 29 snap polls.

Hours earlier, at a press conference during which he presented measures to improve safety, the minister had said the government would "work tirelessly to achieve and regain the public's trust in high-speed rail".

The right-wing opposition, which had demanded Puente's resignation, and unions have criticized him for appearing to pin all the blame for the disaster on one control center operator.

The accident happened when a train operated by the state-owned Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the private Spanish company Iryo on Wednesday outside the village of Urda, around 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Madrid.

The failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63-kilometre stretch of track, but a control center nonetheless authorized the Renfe service to resume its journey.

Among the measures announced at the earlier press conference by Puente was the creation of software for control centers that would issue automatic alerts and make it easier to spot anomalies in traffic.

Puente said an AI agent would be created to oversee the system and "minimize the possibility of human error", describing the proposal as unprecedented.

In scenarios where a control center operator took a decision while the automatic safety system was down, a second operator would have to confirm it, Puente added.

- Safety under scrutiny -

The train drivers' union Semaf, which has called strikes at Renfe for November 10 and 12, has denounced a worsening of working conditions and the use of "degraded systems".

Critics say investment in maintenance has not kept up with the increase in passenger numbers since the 2021 liberalization of Spain's rail network, which allowed private companies to break Renfe's decades-long monopoly.

In an apparent recognition of the unions' demands, Puente said the working conditions of control center operators would be reformed, including their breaks and monitoring their fatigue levels.

Puente also announced an aid package of 30 million euros ($33.5 million) for the families of the dead and the scores of people who were injured in last week's accident.

Another collision in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people on the same key line connecting Madrid with the city of Seville, Spain's first high-speed route when it opened in 1992.

World

Israel President Opens Talks as Rivals Struggle to Form Government

27 October 2026, Jerusalem: Israeli President Isaac Herzog casts his ballot at a polling station in West Jerusalem during Israel's legislative election. (dpa)
27 October 2026, Jerusalem: Israeli President Isaac Herzog casts his ballot at a polling station in West Jerusalem during Israel's legislative election. (dpa)
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Israel President Opens Talks as Rivals Struggle to Form Government

27 October 2026, Jerusalem: Israeli President Isaac Herzog casts his ballot at a polling station in West Jerusalem during Israel's legislative election. (dpa)
27 October 2026, Jerusalem: Israeli President Isaac Herzog casts his ballot at a polling station in West Jerusalem during Israel's legislative election. (dpa)

Israel's president begins deliberations on Wednesday on whom to task to form a government, with neither veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor rival Gadi Eisenkot holding enough seats after a divisive election.

President Isaac Herzog holds a largely ceremonial role, but carries the decisive vote on who will have the first chance to try to be prime minister -- a process that could last weeks or even months and may end in failure and new elections.

Herzog's statements have raised speculation that he could sound out leaders on joining a unity government, hoping to bring stability in a country sharply polarized after three years of war and Netanyahu's hard-right politics.

After officially receiving the results of the October 27 election, Herzog begins two days of consultations with parties at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), starting with the ultranationalist Religious Zionism.

Herzog's office said he was deliberately starting with the smaller parties, hoping to hear all views, and would wait until late Thursday to meet the two biggest, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and Yashar, a broad center to center-right opposition party launched by Eisenkot, a former military chief.

Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot holds the 61 seats needed to secure a majority in the 120-member parliament.

Netanyahu's bloc has an edge, with 53 seats as opposed to Eisenkot's 48.

Eisenkot could reach the threshold if he allies with parties from the Arab minority, whose seat count surged to 19 on outrage against Netanyahu's hard-right government.

But some in the opposition have baulked at relying on non-Jewish lawmakers' votes.

Netanyahu has called for a broad coalition government without Arab lists, after accusing Arab groupings of having "stolen" the vote.

Israel's attorney general called Tuesday on intelligence agency Shin Bet to share the progress of its investigation into claims of electoral fraud by Arab Israeli parties, stating that no evidence had yet been submitted.

Arab-Israeli leaders have strongly rejected the claims, while Eisenkot accused Netanyahu and his Likud party on Tuesday of trying to stage a "pogrom against democracy".

- 'Fresh thinking' -

Herzog, a mild-mannered lawyer whose political career was in the defunct left-wing Labor Party but is now officially nonpartisan, has said he wants to encourage "fresh thinking" and avoid a new election.

"It is important to exhaust every option, broaden the dialogue and explore every path that may advance the process," his office said in a statement, adding that he could hold additional rounds of consultations before his decision.

Once Herzog tasks someone, they will have 28 days to form a government, with a potential 14-day extension.

If no one succeeds, Herzog will give the mandate to someone else. If that too fails, a majority of lawmakers could come together to nominate someone within 21 days -- or else Israel heads to new elections.

It took Netanyahu, who at the time had a better showing by Likud, 58 days to form a government after the last election in November 2022.

Israel held five elections between 2019 and 2022 after deadlocks.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has been in power on and off for nearly two decades, enjoys a fervent supporter base but is despised by many other Israelis, including for his attempts to overhaul the judiciary.

Netanyahu faces corruption charges and the risk of jail if he loses power and, with it, immunity.

In the final days of the campaign, he repeatedly warned he would order a resumption of full-scale war on Iran alongside US President Donald Trump.

Eisenkot on election night warned the military not to take orders to suit Netanyahu's "political needs", saying he has no mandate -- even if he remains prime minister in a caretaker role.

- No unity -

Netanyahu has called for a "broad national government" -- with himself at top.

Opposition leaders have insisted that is not on the cards, pointing to Netanyahu's character and his failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest day in Israel's history.

In a strategy meeting Tuesday, Eisenkot and the other opposition leaders vowed to move quickly to form a government and oust Netanyahu -- but gave no indication how they would do so.

Yousef Jabareen, the head of the largest Arab-majority party in the next parliament, told AFP this week that the opposition needed to accept "political reality" and team up to remove Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has persistently warned Jewish Israelis that the opposition will work with Arab parties, which he accuses of backing Hamas.

Leaders of Arab-Israeli parties have unanimously condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas without describing the Palestinian movement as a terror group.

World

Iran Top Negotiator Says Americans Voted ‘No to War’

A veiled Iranian woman walks in front of an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 November 2026. (EPA)
A veiled Iranian woman walks in front of an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 November 2026. (EPA)
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Iran Top Negotiator Says Americans Voted ‘No to War’

A veiled Iranian woman walks in front of an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 November 2026. (EPA)
A veiled Iranian woman walks in front of an anti-US mural near the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran, 01 November 2026. (EPA)

Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Wednesday that Americans voted "NO TO WAR" after Democrats routed the Republicans in the midterm elections.

Democrats won full control of the US Congress in a sweeping landslide of upsets that delivered a crushing rebuke of President Donald Trump and his party.

The vote reflected deep anger over living costs, tariffs and Trump's war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring and compounded dissatisfaction with an already deeply unpopular president.

"Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," Ghalibaf posted on X.

"If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare."

The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has been at a stalemate for months, punctuated by sporadic exchanges of fire amid fears of a full-scale resumption of hostilities.