Iran calls on Donald Trump to “change” his policy towards the Islamic Republic

Iran on Saturday called on US President-elect Donald Trump to «changer» the policy of “maximum pressure” which he carried out during his first mandate towards the Islamic Republic. “Donald Trump must show he is not following the wrong policies of the past”Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif told the press. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs was the architect on the Iranian side of the nuclear agreement, concluded in 2015 between Tehran and the international community including the United States.

But the pact was torpedoed three years later, when then-President Donald Trump withdrew his country from it and reimposed heavy sanctions as part of a policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran. “As a man of calculation, he should see what the advantages and disadvantages of this policy were and whether he wishes to continue or change this harmful policy”said Mohammad Javad Zarif, referring to Donald Trump's career as a businessman.

Trump assures that he is not seeking to harm Iran

Donald Trump's first term was also marked by his decision in January 2020 to have the powerful Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, architect of Iran's regional influence strategy, killed in Iraq. On Thursday, Tehran, through its diplomatic spokesperson Esmaïl Baghaï, said it hoped that the upcoming return of Donald Trump to the White House would make it possible to “revisit the erroneous approaches of the past”. However, he did not mention the name of the president-elect. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all strategic decisions, did not mention the American presidential election in a speech on Thursday.

Donald Trump assured Tuesday that he was not seeking to harm Iran but, on the contrary, wanted the Iranians to have “a very prosperous country”. Donald Trump's victory comes at a delicate time for Iran, caught up in the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, and the spillover of the conflict in neighboring Lebanon against Hezbollah. These two movements are supported financially and militarily by Tehran in their war against the State of Israel, which Iran does not recognize.