Iran on Thursday called Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election an opportunity for the United States to reassess past “wrong policies”.
Trump, who is set to return to the White House in January after defeating US Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election, had pursued a “maximum pressure” strategy on Iran during his first term.
“We have very bitter experiences with the policies and approaches of different US governments in the past,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Trump’s win, he added, was a chance “to review previous wrong policies”.
Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions peaked during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021.
Before Trump was declared the winner on Wednesday, Iran had dismissed the US election as irrelevant.
“The general policies of the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran are fixed,” said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani.
“It doesn’t matter who becomes president. Plans have already been set so that there is no change in people’s livelihood,” she added.
During his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed harsh sanctions on the Islamic republic.
In 2020, under Trump’s presidency, the United States killed revered Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qasem Soleimani in an air strike on Baghdad airport.
