Iran's Raisi Faces Early Tests on Economy, Tension With West

TEHRAN, IRAN - Ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi is to be inaugurated Tuesday as the new president of Iran, a country facing economic and health crises as well as tensions with the West.

He replaces moderate president Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. From the outset, Raisi will have to tackle the nuclear talks aimed at reviving the deal from which the United States unilaterally withdrew. The 60-year-old also faces the United States, Britain and Israel's warnings to Iran over a deadly tanker attack, for which Tehran denies responsibility.