Ayatollah Khamenei speaking on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran
Dubai:
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that the outcome of the US presidential election will not impact Tehran’s policy toward Washington.
“Our policy towards the United States is clearly defined and does not change with the movement of individuals. It doesn’t matter who comes and goes,” Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Khamenei was speaking on the anniversary of the capture of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, which coincided with the birthday of the Prophet of Islam Mohammed.
“The student attack on this spy den was quite appropriate and wise,” Khamenei said, referring to the radical Islamist students who stormed the embassy, taking 52 staff hostage during 444 days. There has been no US-Iran diplomatic relations since.
Iran has canceled rallies and other events marking the embassy’s seizure this year over concerns over the spread of the coronavirus which has killed around 36,000 people in the country, the hardest hit in the Middle East.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden has pledged to join the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with six powers if Iran returns to comply.
In 2018, President Donald Trump scrapped the deal, under which Iran’s international financial sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Iran followed Washington’s rejection by reducing its compliance.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told US network CBS on Monday that he wanted the United States to join the deal, but that “re-engagement does not mean renegotiation” because “if we wanted to make [renegotiate], we would have done it with President (Donald) Trump four years ago. “
Zarif told CBS that “Biden’s camp statements have been more promising, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Trump has said he wants to strike a broader deal that will also address Iran’s missile program and regional activities. Iran has ruled out any negotiations unless Washington reverts to the deal first.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
