New Presidency Offers US Opportunity to Revisit Rule of Law

EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani said the United States has an opportunity under the new president to make up for past mistakes, return to global norms and reinforce commitment to international obligations.

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09 November 2020

“The damaging and wrong policies of the US government were opposed … by the people this country in the recent elections,” he said during a session of the government’s Economic Coordination Taskforce on Sunday, President.ir reported.

He noted that the Iranian nation has also proved with its “heroic resistance” that the policy of maximum pressure is “doomed”.

Democrat Joe Biden beat incumbent Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 elections and captured the US presidency on Saturday when the results were announced.

Relations between Iran and the US took a turn for the worse since 2018, when Trump pulled out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and reimposed crippling sanctions as part of a maximum pressure campaign.

During his tenure, Trump also ordered the assassination of Iran’s top commander, General Qasem Soleimani, in Iraq in early January.

Vice president under president Barack Obama when JCPOA was reached, Biden has pledged to rejoin the accord, if Iran returns to full compliance with it.

Iran has scaled back its commitments in response to the US pressure and other parties’ failure to make up for it.

“Iran has always complied with its obligations in the face of responsible commitment by all other sides and favors a strategy of constructive interaction with the world,” Rouhani said.

Following the announcement of Biden’s victory, First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri also took to Twitter, saying that “the era of Trump and his adventurous and belligerent team is over”.

He expressed hope that the US “destructive policies” would change under the new president and the world would see Washington’s return to the rule of law, international commitments and respect for other nations.

“Violation of international treaties, from environmental ones to inhumane economic sanctions against the Iranian nation, and support for terrorism and racism formed the basis of Trump’s policies,” he said.

Jahangiri noted that the Iranian nation, who stood up to Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy, will not forget the sufferings caused by the massive disruption of its livelihood, the patients’ lack of access to medicine, and the assassination of General Soleimani.

Hesameddin Ashena, an adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, also tweeted that “Iranians stood their ground bravely until that coward left”.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani also reacted on Twitter, saying the end of Trump is not a surprise, but a destined verdict of history.

“Most Americans rejected a completely defeated way of thinking that considered bullying as a solution,” he wrote, describing Trump as a “lesson for posterity”.