Iran hails end of Trump era, hopes for 'change' from new US leader

First vice president says Tehran will not quickly forget crippling sanctions imposed by Trump administration or assassination of Qassem Soleimani

Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said on Saturday he hoped for a change in “America’s destructive policies” following Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election.

“I hope we witness a change in America’s destructive policies and a return to law and international commitments and respect for nations,” Jahangiri wrote on Twitter.

“The era of Trump and his adventurous and warmongering team is over,” he added.

US President Donald Trump, who lost Tuesday’s election to challenger democratic Biden, has applied a “maximum pressure” policy and crippling sanctions against Iran since his 2018 withdrawal from a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran.

The move was loudly backed by Israel’s government and was also supported by US allies in the Gulf.

In this Feb. 28, 2020 photo, released by official website of the Office of the Iranian Vice-President, Senior Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, left, listens as Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki speaks at the Headquarters of Prevention and Combating the Coronavirus, in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Vice President via AP)

The sanctions targeted Iran’s crucial oil industry and cut Tehran’s access to its revenues abroad by blacklisting its banking sector, among others.

Iranians “will not forget the pain caused by the widespread disruption of their livelihood, lack of patients’ access to medicine and the assassination of the dear general” Qasem Soleimani, Jahangiri said.

Soleimani, who headed the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Qods Force, was killed in an American air strike near Baghdad airport in January.

Biden has said during his campaign that he plans to embark on a “credible path to return to diplomacy” with Iran and raised the possibility of returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, negotiated when he was vice president under Barack Obama.

Vehicles drive on a highway under an anti-U.S. billboard with a portrait of former President Barack Obama, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani earlier on Saturday said he hoped “the three-year experience” of Trump’s pressure against Tehran would be a “lesson” for the next US administration that Iran would “continue its resistance.”

“Our people have faced economic terrorism for the past three years and shown unparalleled resistance and patience.”

A pedestrian walks past an anti-U.S. billboard, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

The Islamic republic hoped that “those imposing sanctions realize their path was wrong and that they will not achieve their goals in any way,” he said.

Iranian officials have said they will focus on the policies of the next US administration rather than who becomes president.

Tehran has also stressed that a possible US return to the nuclear agreement would have to be accompanied by compensation for damages caused by the withdrawal and a “guarantee” it will not be repeated.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that the US election would have “no effect” on Tehran’s policies towards Washington.