As Iranian emergency workers were racing to remove the rubble of the collapsed Plasco high-rise in Tehran, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20.

While Trump was being inaugurated in Washington, people and media in Iran were focused on the debris removal operation following the collapse of the 17-story Plasco building, and as such, paid perhaps less than expected attention to Barack Obama’s departure from the White House.

Ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper wrote on Jan. 21, “The invitation of the leaders of the Zionist regime [Israel] to the inauguration ceremony of Trump raises the question as to what extent the [slogan] of the beginning of a different era in the US is real. Nobody knows which policy Trump will pursue after entering the White House and whether he will fulfill his promises.”

“However, it should be said that under Obama, many were expecting a different president and the wind of ‘change,’ but during the past eight years, there was no news of change and Obama had the same nature as previous US presidents,” argued Kayhan, referring to Iranian Reformists who believed that the issues plaguing the Iran-US relationship would have been resolved with Obama in the White House.