Iran's president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi, said on Monday that lifting US sanctions on the country is "essential to our foreign policy."

Raisi, who is 60 years old, is the head of Iran's ultraconservative judiciary. One of his mentors is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and a council led by Khamenei disqualified several reformist presidential candidates as well as those allied with President Hassan Rouhani, who is seen as more moderate. According to The Associated Press, millions of voters stayed home as a result, and Iran had its lowest voter turnout ever. Raisi received over 62 percent of the vote in the election.

Raisi described himself as a "defender of human rights" during his first press conference after the election, saying he will support the resurrection of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, but refuses to limit Iran's missile capabilities or assistance for local militias. He stated, "It's non-negotiable." Iran has missiles with a range of 1,240 miles and supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

When asked whether he would meet with President Biden, Raisi flatly said, "No." Talks for the nuclear deal are currently taking place in Vienna between Tehran and world powers, and when asked if he would meet with him, Raisi flatly said, "No." The US does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and there are no preparations "to meet at the leader level," so "it's unclear that anything has actually changed on that front." Psaki noted that Biden regards Khamenei as the "decision leader," and that this was "the case before the election, it is the case today, and it will most likely be the case moving forward."

Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal in 2018. Iran is currently enriching uranium at its greatest level ever, 60 percent; weapons-grade uranium is at 90 percent.