TEHRAN (Reuters): Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy chief Ali Fadavi said Tehran is ready for confrontation with Israel and does not rule out a pre-emptive strike by the US and Israel, the Iranian Student News Agency reported on Wednesday, after Donald Trump claimed victory in the US presidential election.
Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest, defeating Democrat Kamala Harris, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
With regards to Iran, Iranians’ livelihoods will not be affected by the US elections, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani was reported as saying.
Arab and Western officials have told Reuters Trump may reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” through heightened sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and empower Israel to strike its nuclear sites and conduct “targeted assassinations.”
“The US elections are not really our business. Our policies are steady and don’t change based on individuals. We made the necessary predictions before and there will not be change in people’s livelihoods,” Mohajerani said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
During his first mandate, Trump reapplied sanctions on Iran after he withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers that had curtailed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits.
The reinstatement of US sanctions in 2018 hit Iran’s oil exports, slashing government revenues and forcing it to take unpopular steps such as increasing taxes and running big budget deficits, policies that have kept annual inflation close to 40 percent.
Iran’s national currency has weakened at the prospect of a Trump presidency, reaching an all-time low of 700,000 rials to the US Dollar on the free market, according to Iranian currency tracking website Bonbast.com.
