Iran Says Bush Win in Its Best Interest

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

TEHRAN, Iran – The head of Iran’s security council said yesterday the reelection of President Bush was in Tehran’s best interests, despite the administration’s axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors Al Qaeda terrorists, and threats of sanctions over the country’s nuclear ambitions.


Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security decision-making body.


“We haven’t seen anything good from Democrats,” Mr. Rowhani told state-run TV in remarks that, for the first time in recent decades, saw Iran openly supporting one American presidential candidate over another.


“We should not forget that most sanctions and economic pressures were imposed on Iran during the time of Clinton,” Mr. Rowhani said of the former Democratic president. “And we should not forget that during Bush’s era – despite his hard-line and baseless rhetoric against Iran – he didn’t take, in practical terms, any dangerous action against Iran.”


Though Iran generally does not publicly wade into American presidential politics, it has a history of preferring Republicans over Democrats, who tend to press human rights issues.


“We do not desire to see Democrats take over,” Mr. Rowhani said when asked if Iran was supporting Senator Kerry against Mr. Bush.


America severed diplomatic relations with Iran after terrorists stormed the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Iranian clerics were crucial in determining the fate of the 1980 American election when Republican Ronald Reagan won in part because Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter was unable to secure the hostages’ release.


The hostages were freed as Reagan was inaugurated.


America supported Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, but by the late 1990s American-Iranian relations were somewhat better. They plummeted again after Mr. Bush accused Iran of being part of the “axis of evil” with North Korea and pre-war Iraq.


The Bush administration also accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and sheltering operatives of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terror network. Still, Iran was happy to see Mr. Bush destroy two big regional enemies – the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.


Iranian political analyst Mohsen Mofidi said ousting the Taliban and Saddam was the “biggest service any administration could have done for Iran.”


And Mr. Bush, he said, has learned from his mistakes.


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