Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
Radiofarda – A conservative newspaper in Tehran has observed in its July 27 issue on Monday that there is a rising interest evident in a part of the Iranian media about the U.S. presidential elections that take place in November.
Farhikhtegan [The Learned] newspaper, affiliated with the hardliner, conservative-dominated Islamic Azad University, dedicated its front page on Monday to the matter and also wrote on its Twitter page that “Less than 100 days before the U.S. presidential elections, some Iranian political groups are advocating the illusion of a good America.”
The daily added that there seems to be “a task force in Tehran formed of those who support presidential candidate Joe Biden.”
Farhikhtegan carried a picture of four other daily newspapers in Tehran; the pro-reform Omid-e Javan [Hope of the Youths], the centrist pro-reform Sazandegi [Construction] which is the mouthpiece of the Executives of Construction Party, the pro-Rouhani Donya-ye Eqtessad [The World of Economy] and yet another pro-administration daily Jahan-e San’at [The World of Industry] with pictures and banner headlines that welcome the latest draft of the U.S. Democratic party’s platform statement.
The statement released last week, among other things. called for abandoning regime change in Iran as a policy option and introduced the idea of the United States returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran which President Donald Trump withdrew from in May 2018.
Interestingly, both policy statements made by the Democratic party are about matters the Iranian government has been emphasizing as its conditions to return to the negotiating table with the United States.
The headline on Omid-e Javan’s frontpage explains the two ideas as “Iran’s dream for November 2020”. The paper envisages a scenario that includes four key elements: “Trump’s defeat, Rouhani congratulating Biden over the phone, a decline in the rate of exchange for the U.S. dollar in the Iranian market and the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The daily added: “Our hope is not about Biden’s victory. It is about Trump’s defeat.” Omid-e Javan adds that “Trump’s exit from the White House and the revival of the JCPOA can have a positive impact on Iran’s economy.”SEE ALSO:US Democratic Party Rules Out Regime Change In Iran And Supports Nuclear Deal
As far as Sazandegi is concerned, the most important thing is “Doing away with regime change” in Iran. Nevertheless, the IRGC-linked news agency Fars has accused Sazandegi of “beautifying Biden.”
The agency called the newspaper “the Democrats’ agent” and said: “They have published a propaganda picture of Biden as if they are the mouthpiece of the U.S. Democratic party in Iran.” Fars also accused Sazandegi of promising on behalf of Biden that the U.S. will forget about regime change in Iran and will return to the JCPOA.
Jahan-e San’at in its frontpage story opined that Biden’s victory in the election will revive Obama’s legacy.
The article in Donya’e Eqtesad focused on the economy and quoted a Wall Street analyst as having said that “Biden’s victory can leave a negative impact on the price of oil in the international market, although he will take a milder position vis-à-vis Iran. He will lift the sanctions on Iran and will pave the way for pouring millions of barrels of Iranian oil into the world market.”
However, the daily predicted that the fall of the oil price will be more or less controlled thanks to Saudi Arabia’s cooperation. It also quoted Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh as having called for a boost to Iran’s oil production as he believes “Sanctions won’t last long. We should boost our output and return to the market powerfully and claim Iran’s share of the oil market.”
Farhikhtegan criticized all of these welcoming reactions to the Democratic party’s platform statement and quoted former diplomat and current political analyst Jalal Sadatian as saying: “There is no difference between the Democrats and Republicans” as far as Iran is concerned, adding that “in their foreign policy, both of them serve the overall interests of the United States.”
Farhikhtegan accused the four dailies of acting based on a hasty judgment.
- Behrouz TuraniBehrouz Turani is a British-Iranian writer and journalist as well as a consultant on Iran’s political dynamics and the Iranian media landscape.
