Iran President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday the Islamic republic was “very happy” at the prospect of U.S. President Donald Trump leaving office.
President-elect Joe Biden has signalled a willingness to return to the soft diplomacy with Iran that marked Barack Obama’s term in the White House, after four years of Trump who chose to stand up to Tehran rather than appease it.
Trump’s efforts saw a campaign of “relentless pressure” being applied to Iran and its terrorist supporters.
“We are very happy to see Trump leave,” Iran’s leader said in televised comments at a cabinet meeting.
“Thank God, these are his final days,” Rouhani added, calling Trump a “tyrant”, “the most unruly, lawless president” and a “terrorist and murderer.”
Tensions between Tehran and Washington soared during Trump’s presidency as his administration brought Israel and the Gulf Arab states closer together while disciplining Iran for its human rights abuses and fostering of Islamic terrorism across the Middle East.
At the same time Joe Biden had trouble simply identifying the main protagonists in the area.
Joe Biden just said IRAN voted for U.S. troops to leave.
In reality, IRAQ voted for U.S. troops to leave.
Biden didn’t correct himself.
Sometimes you just wonder… pic.twitter.com/OjoUU8jGLb
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 7, 2020
In 2018, Trump pulled Washington out of a landmark Obama-negotiated JCPOA nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed punishing sanctions.
“This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said. “It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”
This January, Trump ordered an air strike near Baghdad airport which killed senior Iranian terror organiser Qasem Soleimani.
As Breitbart News reported, Maj. Gen. Soleimani was the commander of Iran’s elite military forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, as well as the commander of Iranian-controlled Shia militia forces in Iraq, Syria, and around the world.
It was a strike that drew immediate censure from the United Nations.
A U.N. official claims the killing of Iranian terrorist mastermind Gen. Qasem Soleimani was a violation of international law. https://t.co/Qs0zBLSEQv
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 5, 2020
Just last week a pair of U.S. B-52H Stratofortresses flew a show-of-force mission across the Persian Gulf in a display intended to deter attacks from Iran. The bombers were joined by fighter escorts from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.
The aircraft, assigned to Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base-headquartered 2nd Bomb Wing, flew a short-notice nonstop mission the military said was “designed to deter aggression” and assure allies and partners the United States can rapidly deploy military power.
Such shows of strength by the U.S. under Trump’s leadership led Rouhani’s government to repeatedly signal its openness to the prospect of a Biden administration.
AFP contributed to this story
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