Iran's New President Rules Out Missile, Militia Talks in Blow to Nuclear Deal Hopes

Iran's president-elect said on Monday that he would not meet U.S. President Joe Biden, nor negotiate over his country's nuclear ballistic missile programme and support of regional militias.

Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, who won a landslide victory in the country's general election on Saturday, is a hardline figure already sanctioned by the United States for his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.

"The U.S. is obliged to lift all oppressive sanctions against Iran," Raisi told reporters at a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

When asked about Tehran's ballistic missile program and its support of regional militias, Raisi said those issues were "non-negotiable."

On meeting Biden, Raisi simply said: "No."

Abdolnasser Hemmati, the moderate who ran against him in the election, had suggested during campaigning that he'd be potentially willing to meet the U.S. President.