Trump exit will do little to mend ties, Iranians say
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader and the country’s president both warned America on Wednesday that the departure of President Donald Trump does not immediately mean better relations between the two nations.
The remarks were issued as Iran approaches the first anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, an attack that nearly plunged Washington and Tehran into an open war after months of tensions. In recent weeks, a scientist who founded Iran’s military nuclear program two decades ago was gunned down in an attack in a rural area outside Tehran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke in Tehran at a congregation hall, where he attended a meeting with Soleimani’s family and top military leaders.
“You saw that what Trump’s America and [former President Barack] Obama’s America did to you,” Khamenei said. “The hostilities are not just for Trump’s America, which ends when he leaves. Obama’s America also did bad things to you and the Iranian nation.”
Earlier in the day, Rouhani, speaking during a Cabinet meeting, made a similar point to criticize Trump — at one point even saying the U.S. president “has committed so many crimes, he was an assassin and a terrorist.”
“Some people say, ‘You are excited for Mr. Biden,’” Rouhani said. “No, we are not excited Mr. Biden is taking office, but we are very happy Mr. Trump is gone.”
“The upcoming American administration can choose what to do,” Rouhani said. “The path is open. It’s up to them if they are grateful or ungrateful. If they want the right path, it’s ready. If they want the wrong path, that one is ready for them as well.”
Biden has suggested the U.S. could rejoin Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, from which Trump unilaterally pulled America in 2018 and imposed harsher sanctions on Iran. That decision marked the start of increased tensions between the two countries as Iran abandoned uranium enrichment limits and the Mideast saw a series of escalating incidents and attacks.
In response to Soleimani’s death, Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack that injured dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq. That same night, it also mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
Hoping to pressure Europe, Iran’s parliament recently passed a bill calling on Tehran to increase its uranium enrichment to 20%, a short technical step from weapons-grade levels, and to throw out international inspectors. Rouhani’s government has opposed the bill, exposing a rift inside Iran’s civilian government that the supreme leader appeared to touch on in his speech Wednesday.
World powers that are part of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran urged Tehran on Wednesday during a virtual meeting in Vienna to roll back violations of the accord and return to full compliance, a German official said.
The meeting took place as the signatories to the agreement — Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia — continue to try and keep it from collapsing after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018.
The three European powers have expressed hope that with the change of administrations in Washington, the U.S. could be brought back into the deal, whose goal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb — something Tehran insists it doesn’t want to do.
Biden has said he hopes to return the U.S. to the deal, which was negotiated while he was vice president.
German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said Wednesday’s meeting of political directors and deputy foreign ministers would assess implementation of the nuclear accord, and that the European countries would demand Iran return to full compliance.