TEHRAN – As the American people were preparing to cast their votes on Tuesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei outlined Iran’s strategy to make the country impervious to any change in the U.S. leadership.

The Leader addressed the nation on the occasion of the anniversary of the births of Prophet Mohammad and Imam Sadiq (PBUT), and also the event of the 13th of Aban, which marks the 41st anniversary of the takeover of the United States embassy in Tehran by the revolutionary students on November 4, 1979. 

In a televised speech, the Leader said Iran’s policies will not change with the change in the U.S. leadership, thus rebuffing any speculation that Tehran and Washington could repair the damage the Trump presidency has done to Iran-U.S. relations over the past four years. 

“Some imagine that if a government succumbs to U.S. demands and policies, it will benefit from that. This is while governments that have surrendered to the U.S. bullying, have borne the brunt the most and their troubles have increased,” said the Leader, warning that the U.S. hostilities toward the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue regardless of who will win the U.S. presidential election. 

The Leader’s warning came hours before Americans go to the polling places in an election that is widely predicted to result in a Biden victory. Opinion polls have now put Democratic candidate Joe Biden ahead of Republican candidate Donald Trump for months, although some recent polls put the two candidates neck and neck in a few battleground states.

The lead that Biden has been enjoying over Trump in recent months prompted many analysts and experts to speculate about what a Biden win would mean to the White House position on a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and in general to the troubled Iran-U.S. relations. Biden himself has chosen to exacerbate the debate over his Iran policy by publishing an opinion peace on CNN website. 

Biden said if he wins the November 3rd election, he will rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

“I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations. With our allies, we will work to strengthen and extend the nuclear deal's provisions, while also addressing other issues of concern,” Biden wrote in September. 

Now that Biden is heading into the election with a remarkable lead over Trump, his Iran policy is once again reviving debate over whether a President Biden would revive the Obama Iran policy or he will pursue a different policy to deescalate tensions with Iran. Of course, even if he wins the election, the damage is done.  It will be difficult for him to repair the damage Trump has done to the Iran-U.S. relations. 

The least damage that Trump did to these relations is that he made it crystal clear for Iranians across the political spectrum that there is no difference between the policies of the Republican and Democratic parties toward Iran as they both seek to put pressure on Iran. 

In light of these facts, Iran has decided to move forward without pinning hope on any rapprochement with the U.S.

The Leader said Iran has devised measured policies that will not be affected by the outcome of the U.S. election.

“No matter who wins the U.S. election, it won't affect our policy toward the U.S. Some people talk about what will happen if this or that one is elected. Yes, certain events may happen but they don’t concern us. Our policy is calculated and clear,” Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out. 

The Leader also addressed the U.S. internal developments, especially the U.S. presidential election, which he described as a sign of the U.S. decline. 

“The current president [of the U.S.], who is supposed to hold the election, says this is ‘the most rigged election’ in America. And his rival says Trump seeks a massive voter fraud,” said the Leader, noting that the current situation in the U.S. is “spectacular”.

Ayatollah Khamenei stated that this situation is an example of the “ugly face of liberal democracy”.

He added, “Regardless of who will assume office, the current situation is indicative of severe civil, political, moral decline in America. And this is an issue that is being acknowledged by thinkers in America.”

According to Ayatollah Khamenei, the U.S. suffers from many malaises that will inevitably lead to the U.S. dissolution and collapse. He pointed out that the U.S. November election may hasten the destruction of the U.S. regime. 

“The U.S. regime suffers from severe political, civil, and moral deviations. This is what their own analysts say. Such a regime won't last long. Of course, if certain people hold office, they speed up its destruction, while with others it may take a little longer,” the Leader said in what appeared to be a hint that a Trump win would accelerate the destruction of the U.S. regime.

He said the main reason behind the U.S hostility toward Iran is that the Islamic system in Iran keeps refusing to accept the U.S. “cruel policies” and recognize their domination. 

“This enmity will continue. And the only way to end it, is that the other side should be disappointed that it cannot deliver a major blow to the people and government of Iran,” the Leader remarked.

He underlined that the U.S. regime is a regime of arrogance.

“That regime of arrogance is a collection of harms, mischief and evils. The regime of arrogance is warmongering, a terrorist and breeds terrorism. It is interfering, corrupt and monopolistic. This means that the arrogant regime is an embodiment of indecency, evils and mischief. Therefore, confronting such arrogance and such a phenomenon is synonymous with rationality,” Ayatollah Khamenei added. 

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has said on many occasions that the U.S. is heading toward decline. 

“Those who are our enemies and against us, admit that they are weak and yet do not forget the arrogant temperament; that is to say, the same arrogant spirit that they have learned during the last two or three centuries, the last three or four centuries, to always speak to the world and to everyone from a high position, they still have do so, and with all these scandals and backwardness,  they have not given up this arrogant spirit; but the fact is that they are in decline in various ways, as they say,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in late September 2019. 

In the same year, the Leader described the Trump election in 2016 as a sign on the U.S. decline. According to Ayatollah Khamenei, there are a lot of doubts about the mental balance of Trump in the U.S., and when such a person becomes president in a country, it is indicative of the decline of that country. 

“Dear brothers and sisters! Let me tell you this: The political decline of America is enough even if it does not have more than one reason - which I say now - and that reason is the election of a person with the characteristics of Mr. Donald Trump in America. This election per se is a sign of America's political decline,” the Leader said in early June 2019.

He added, “That the fate of hundreds of millions of people are at the hands of a man with these characteristics is a sign of America's political decline. Someone who in America itself there are a lot of speculation about his mental balance, his intellectual balance, his moral balance. When he becomes the head of a country, it indicates the decline of that country; political decline, moral decline.”

PA/PA