Iran invites world leaders, including Europeans and Americans, to presidential inauguration

July 21, 2013 at 12:20PM

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign ministry says the Islamic Republic has sent invitations to all the world's leaders to attend the Aug. 4 inauguration of its new president.

Spokesman Abbas Araghchi was quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency as saying Sunday that American and European leaders and officials were among those invited to the swearing-in of Hasan Rouhani.

Rouhani has pledged to follow a "path of moderation" and promised greater openness over the country's nuclear program, which has placed it at odds with the West.

Araghchi did not elaborate as to which individual leaders would be invited. Officials in Israel, which the Islamic Republic does not recognize, would presumably not be included.

Rouhani won a landslide victory in June 14 presidential elections. He replaces Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, first elected in 2005.

about the writer

about the writer

More from No Section

See More
FILE -- A rent deposit slot at an apartment complex in Tucker, Ga., on July 21, 2020. As an eviction crisis has seemed increasingly likely this summer, everyone in the housing market has made the same plea to Washington: Send money — lots of it — that would keep renters in their homes and landlords afloat. (Melissa Golden/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT58
Melissa Golden/The New York Times

It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.