Media: Iran believes Trump's victory offers chance for strong nuclear deal

The Iranian officials have announced that the government believes that after Donald Trump’s election and the potential for a new nuclear agreement with the US, the situation will become more stable and long-lasting.

“Trump’s victory opens up the possibility of securing a long-term agreement with the US that would be more robust,” the Iranian officials said, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The sources noted that Iranian authorities had been preparing for a potential second term for Trump for several months, even creating an informal working group. However, they emphasised that much would depend on who Trump appoints as Secretary of State.

“Do not lose this historic opportunity for change in Iran-US relations,” wrote a prominent politician and former political adviser to Iran’s government, Hamid Aboutalebi, in an open letter to Iran’s president. 

He advised Mr. Pezeshkian to congratulate Mr. Trump on his election victory and to set a new tone for a pragmatic and forward-looking policy. 

However, critical decisions in Iran are ultimately made by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had banned negotiations with Mr. Trump during his first term. In Iran's complex factional politics, even if Mr. Pezeshkian wanted to engage with Mr. Trump, he would still need Khamenei’s approval. Many conservatives, including influential members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, strongly oppose any engagement with Mr. Trump. 

The US Justice Department has accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps of hacking Mr. Trump’s campaign computers and spreading disinformation online to influence the presidential election. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also revealed an Iranian plot to assassinate Mr. Trump. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, dismissed these charges as a “fabricated” scenario in a post on X. He emphasised that Iran respected the American people's choice in electing their president, and that the path forward for both nations should begin with mutual “respect” and “confidence building.” 

Reza Salehi, a conservative analyst in Tehran close to the country's hard-line faction, told reporters that negotiating with Mr. Trump would be politically difficult for Iran’s new government. Many conservatives have already expressed their opposition, arguing that any engagement would be a betrayal of General Qassim Suleimani, whose assassination was ordered by Mr. Trump in 2020.

By Naila Huseynova