Locked in Mideast wars and battered by sanctions, Iran wary over US elections

Associated Press Tehran: America's presidential election next week comes just after Iran marks the 45th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis and for many, tensions between Tehran and Washington feel just as high as they did then. Iran remains locked in the Mideast wars roiling the region, with its allies militant groups and fighters of its selfdescribed “Axis of Resistance” battered as Israel presses its war in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas and its invasion of Lebanon amid devastating attacks against Hezbollah.

At the same time, Iran still appears to be assessing damage from Israel's strikes on the Islamic Republic last Saturday in response to two Iranian ballistic missile attacks. Iran's currency, the rial, hovers near record lows against the dollar, battered by international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme of enriching uranium closer than ever to weaponsgrade levels. In public spaces, women still openly defy Iran's mandatory law on the headscarf, or hijab, a result of the mass demonstrations over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that still haunts the country. That has left a feel of fatalism among some on the streets of the capital, Tehran, as Americans cast ballots for either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

Many are split on which candidate would be better for their country if at all. “All US presidents elected after the (1979) revolution had the same views about Iran and I think that's unlikely to change," said Sadegh Rabbani, 65. Harris and Trump have offered hard-line views on Iran, making Iranians wary Both candidates have either undertaken or expressed tough stances on Iran. In 2018, Trump unilaterally pulled America out of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, setting off years of attacks across the Middle East even before Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Trump has been briefed on Iranian plots to retaliate against him, as well over his decision to launch a 2020 drone strike that killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad.