With Nuclear Talks on Hold, Iran's Raisi Tours Countryside

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, visit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on October 8. Iranian Presidency/AFP/File
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, visit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on October 8. Iranian Presidency/AFP/File
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With Nuclear Talks on Hold, Iran's Raisi Tours Countryside

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, visit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on October 8. Iranian Presidency/AFP/File
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, right, and the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, visit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on October 8. Iranian Presidency/AFP/File

While the world impatiently awaits Iran's return to nuclear talks, ultraconservative new President Ebrahim Raisi has instead turned his sights inward, campaigning to build support in the provinces.

Elected in a vote marked by a record low turnout, the former judiciary chief has taken a step back from the international stage while working to win the hearts and minds of his people.

Since taking office in August, he has made seven domestic trips in what state media has hailed as an outreach campaign to the common people.

On a visit to the southern province of Bushehr last week, Raisi declared he had come to "get to know the problems of the local people".

"In the provinces, we want to find solutions for creating jobs, restarting production and resolving problems, particularly those of the most deprived," he said.

Appearing unphased by growing pressure over the resumption of nuclear talks in Vienna, he has delegated this issue to his foreign minister.

Indirect talks had begun in April to restore a 2015 nuclear deal that offered Tehran relief from crippling sanctions in exchange for major curbs on its nuclear program but which was abandoned by former US president Donald Trump.

Raisi's election in June put those talks on hold, and pressure has since been mounting for Iran to go back to the negotiating table.

In the interim, Raisi has cultivated his image as a leader on the ground, close to the people -- in contrast with his predecessor Hassan Rouhani, who was favored by the west but sometimes viewed as detached from the populace.

Raisi "travels to the provinces because he wants to project an image of a pragmatic senior official looking for solutions on the ground," Iran specialist Bernard Hourcade told AFP.

'Feel the temperature'
If Iranian television painted a picture of Rouhani as a politician who mainly met allies in Tehran, Raisi is by contrast shown as being in dialogue with different segments of society.

"He knows that a nuclear deal risks taking a long time because there is no unanimity among those in charge of the issue in Iran," said a western diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.

"He prefers to prove himself in domestic politics."

Raisi's tour has taken him from the western province of Khuzestan, where tensions have run high due to water shortages, to Sistan-Baluchistan province in the east, which has long suffered from poor infrastructure.

His domestic endeavors are backed by the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who upon Raisi's inauguration in August charged him with restoring the people's "damaged" trust in the government.

The crushing toll of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, coupled with mounting economic pressures and political crackdowns, all contributed to voter apathy.

"His primary preoccupation is to put out fires before they start," said Hourcade of the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris.

"And he knows that in an economically tenuous situation, fires start with local sparks that spread if we're not careful. He must therefore be very attentive and visit those places to get a feel of the temperature."

Deliver on promises
Khamenei has praised Raisi's trips, declaring that "being popular has obligations, including going out and listening to the people".

The sentiment has been echoed by many of the state's media mouthpieces.

Official news agency IRNA carried a poll on its website, showing the "positive impact" of Raisi's tours.

The conservative daily Kayhan also celebrated Raisi's common touch.

"We see today a president who doesn't need an armored vehicle to understand the situation in the country," it said. "He goes from province to province to familiarize himself with the realities and problems of the people."

But praise for the new leader is not unanimous.

Majid Nasserinejad, an MP from Khuzestan, described the trips as mere "spectacle", noting that "a day-long trip will not solve the problems of the province".

Reformist paper Etemad similarly suggested that such tours are the bare minimum, but alone are "insufficient for governing".

"Moreover, the solution to the problems is not in the hands of one person, not even the president."

Muhammad Sahimi, an Iran analyst at the University of Southern California, suggested that the government must follow through with economic results.

"People may like what they hear, but if what is promised is not delivered, then they will be angry down the road," he said.

"If the economy does not improve soon, the same people will turn on him."



Brazil’s Ex-President Bolsonaro Charged in Alleged Coup Plot 

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a luncheon with senators from his support base, at the National Congress building in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a luncheon with senators from his support base, at the National Congress building in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
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Brazil’s Ex-President Bolsonaro Charged in Alleged Coup Plot 

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a luncheon with senators from his support base, at the National Congress building in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a luncheon with senators from his support base, at the National Congress building in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)

Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with overseeing a plot to overturn his 2022 election loss with a coup, further complicating the far-right firebrand's already narrow hopes of pulling off a political comeback.

Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro and his running mate, General Walter Braga Netto, with leading a "criminal organization" that aimed to overthrow Brazil's 40-year-old democracy.

A total of 34 people were charged in the plot, including several military officials, such as Bolsonaro's former national security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno, and former Navy Commander Almir Garnier Santos, according to the charge sheet.

"The responsibility for acts harmful to the democratic order falls upon a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, based on an authoritarian project of power," it added.

Analysts consider it unlikely Bolsonaro will be arrested before his trial, unless Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, deems him a flight risk.

The case echoes the criminal charges faced by US President Donald Trump that accused him of seeking to overturn his own re-election loss in 2020. That case was repeatedly delayed and ultimately dropped after Trump was returned to power in last November's US election.

The charges against Bolsonaro come just months after Brazil's federal police concluded a two-year investigation into his role in the election-denying movement that culminated in the riots by his supporters that swept the capital, Brasilia, in early 2023, a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.

At the time, many protesters admitted that they wanted to create chaos to justify a military coup that they considered imminent. Late last year, police arrested five alleged conspirators suspected of planning to assassinate the leftist Lula before he took office.

Prosecutors have said the Bolsonaro-led plot included plans to poison Lula, a one-time union leader who previously served two terms as president.

Lula narrowly defeated the right-wing standard-bearer in the late 2022 presidential election.

A PLOT TO TAKE CONTROL

"They sought total control over the three branches of government; they outlined a central office that would serve the purpose of organizing the new order they intended to establish," the charging document noted, referring to those who allegedly pushed the coup plot.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has repeatedly denied breaking any laws, and calls allegations against him a witch hunt by his political opponents.

Lawyers representing Bolsonaro said in a Tuesday statement that he never supported any movement aimed at dismantling Brazil's democratic rule of law or the institutions that uphold it.

Meanwhile, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a son of the former president, in a post on X on Tuesday night derided the charges as an "unconstitutional and immoral mission to attend to Alexandre de Moraes' whims and Lula's nefarious interest."

Tuesday's indictment marks the first time Bolsonaro has been charged with a crime, though he has faced several legal challenges to his conduct as president since he lost his reelection bid.

Two previous decisions by Brazil's Federal Electoral Court have already blocked him from running for president until 2030.

Bolsonaro's lawyers have two weeks to respond to the charges before the Supreme Court decides whether it will accept the charges and potentially hold a dramatic, televised trial.

If convicted, Bolsonaro faces at least a dozen years behind bars.

DIMMING COMEBACK HOPES

"There's a 99% chance that the Supreme Court will accept the charges," said Vera Chemim, a constitutional lawyer in Sao Paulo. "But to convict Bolsonaro, the Supreme Court will need robust evidence."

Bolsonaro's former running mate, General Braga Netto, was arrested two months ago after police accused him of interfering in the investigations. In a statement late Tuesday, his lawyers called the charges a "fantasy" that will not erase his "unblemished history" over four decades of service in the Brazilian Army.

A lawyer for former Navy chief Garnier Santos said he will comment once he had fully reviewed the charges, while a lawyer for General Heleno, Bolsonaro's national security adviser, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Supreme Court conviction could mark an insurmountable obstacle to Bolsonaro's hopes to run in the 2026 presidential election, in a potential rematch against Lula.

A 2010 law that Bolsonaro himself voted to pass when he was a member of Congress bars anyone convicted by an appeals court from running for office.

Two sources close to Bolsonaro said the former president has little hope the courts will rule in his favor. Instead, his allies hope to mobilize political support to increase the pressure on courts and lawmakers to clear a path for a comeback.

On Tuesday, hours before prosecutors presented the charges against him, Bolsonaro met with opposition senators to discuss a bill that would lower the length of time politicians are barred from elections if they commit irregularities.

While its prospects for passage are unclear, some conservatives are emboldened by Lula's unpopularity, according to recent polls.

A February survey released by Datafolha showed that only 24% of Brazilians approve of Lula's government, his lowest-ever rating in any of his three terms as president.