REPORT: Iran's new president Rouhani takes oath of office
Iran's new president on Sunday
called on the West to abandon the "language of sanctions" in dealing
with his country over its contentious nuclear program, hoping to ease the economic
pressures now grinding its people.
President Hasan Rouhani spoke
after being sworn in as president in an open session of parliament Sunday,
capping a weekend that saw him endorsed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's
supreme leader.
Rouhani, a moderate cleric who
won a landslide victory in the June 14 presidential elections, continued his
call for dialogue with the West while asking foreign powers to respect Iran in
its negotiations.
"If you seek a suitable
answer, speak to Iran through the language of respect, not through the language
of sanctions," the president said in a speech broadcast live by Iranian
state television. He later added that any negotiations would require
"bilateral trust building, mutual respect and the lessening of
hostilities."
Iran is under United Nations
sanctions as well as unilateral Western oil and banking sanctions over its
refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to power
reactors producing electricity or build nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is
peaceful and geared towards generating electricity and producing radioisotopes
to treat cancer patients.
Rouhani replaces President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who struck a hard-line approach when dealing with the West
and its sanctions over the nuclear program. The sanctions have hit the
country's vital oil exports and blocked transactions on international banking networks.
Inflation is running at more than 35 percent. The Iranian rial has lost more
than two-thirds of its value against the U.S. dollar since late 2011.
In Washington, White House
spokesman Jay Carney said Rouhani's inauguration represented "an
opportunity for Iran to act quickly to resolve the international community's
deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program."
"Should this new government
choose to engage substantively and seriously to meet its international
obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, it will find a willing
partner in the United States," Carney said in a statement.
During his speech, Rouhani said
Iran opposes "any change in political systems through foreign
intervention." Iran is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad,
whose country remains in the grips of a bloody two-year civil war. Assad's
government has received fighters from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, helping
government forces gain ground in recent weeks.
"Peace and stability in all
neighboring regions is a need and necessity for Iran," Rouhani said.
Syria's state-run news agency
SANA reported Sunday that Rouhani told Syria's prime minister that no force in
the world would shake the alliance between the two countries. Syria has been
Tehran's strongest ally in the Arab world since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rouhani also said that Iran is
"not after changing borders and governments." He did not elaborate,
but it appeared to be a reference to Israel, which other Iranian leaders have
demanded be destroyed in the past.
Meanwhile, Rouhani also presented
a list of ministers he wants for his Cabinet to parliament. The core of his
team has figures whose academic pedigrees include institutions in California,
Washington and London.
Rouhani proposed Mohammad Javad
Zarif, a diplomat at Iran's U.N. Mission in New York for five years, to serve
as foreign minister. He also proposed Mahmoud Alavi, a cleric and former
lawmaker, as minister of intelligence and Hossein Dehghan, a former commander
in the powerful Revolutionary Guards, as defense minister. Others include
officials who served in the administrations of both reformist President
Mohammad Khatami and centrist President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
For the full report, please click on the VIDEO above
AP