Iran’s President says Tehran indifferent to Trump’s election
President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian said the re-election of Donald Trump didn’t matter to his country, state media said on November 7th as reported by the Arab News via Reuters.
Trump’s return to Washington could mean tougher enforcement of US oil sanctions against Iran, which he initiated back in 2018 following his decision to withdrawal the US from the nuclear deal between Iran and a number of global powers.
“To us it does not matter at all who has won the American election, because our country and system relies on its inner strength and a great and honorable nation,” Pezeshkian said late on November 6th, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, his first comments om Trump’s victory.
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“We will not be close-minded in developing our relations with other countries (while) we have made it our priority to develop relations with Islamic and neighboring countries,” Pezeshkian said. It wasn’t clear if he was referring from the US, with whom Iran doesn’t jabe diplomatic relations.
An Iranian government spokesperson played down the importance of the election earlier while a commander of the Revolutionary Guards voices a readiness for confrontation with the US.
Iran fears Trump empowering Netanyahu to conduct strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, carry out assassinations and reimpose “maximum pressure” on the country through increased sanctions on Iran’s oil indstry.
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Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal three years after it was signed, describing it as a “horrible, one sided” agreement, and re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran.
Back in September Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to end its nuclear standoff with the West, which accuses it of seeking the capacity to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Reuters, The Guardian
