Iran president says 'no' to pre-election deal with Trump
Despite an official line of indifference toward US election results, Iranian authorities are closely monitoring the race from Tehran.
Mahmoud Vaezi, the most influential man in Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's entourage as well as his chief of staff, has reasserted the Islamic Republic’s stance that talks with US President Donald Trump's administration are not an option.
“We have to make sure that what he failed to achieve at home will not be covered by a foreign policy gain,” Vaezi said of Trump, adding that Iran “will look out in the remaining weeks until we pass this stage by.” The Rouhani aide was referring to the US president’s multiple offers for talks, which Tehran has so far turned down.
Vaezi also described as a “disaster” the first televised debate between Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. The trajectory of the ongoing presidential race in the United States, Vaezi claimed, is not in favor of the sitting president, “who is clueless about international politics.”
In his latest overtures, Trump has scrambled to tempt Iranians into a new agreement to replace the Iran nuclear deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — signed by the administration of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Following its departure from the accord in 2018, the Trump administration has been exercising its “maximum pressure” policy to bring the Iranian economy to its knees and force the government in Tehran into renegotiating the accord.
