‘Ugly face of liberal democracy’: Iran’s Khamenei jeers at highly contentious US presidential election

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blasted the US presidential election as a “spectacle” amid Donald Trump’s voter fraud allegations. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iranian elections a “joke” in an ensuing Twitter spat.

"The situation in the US & what they themselves say about their elections is a spectacle!" Khamenei wrote on Twitter.

This is an example of the ugly face of liberal democracy in the US.

Khamenei wrote that the "decline of the US regime" was "absolutely clear," regardless of the outcome of the vote. The Iranian official previously branded the US election as a "spectacle" on Election Day on November 4, referring to the multiple times President Donald Trump had alleged that there were attempts to rig the vote.  

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly engaged in a Twitter spat by accusing Khamenei of stealing "hundreds of millions of dollars from your people" and spending "billions on proxy wars to protect your kleptocracy."

Your elections are a joke, with hundreds of candidates disqualified from even running.

Pompeo went on to describe the US as "the greatest nation in all of human history."

At the same time, Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri expressed hope that the election will bring about a "change in America's destructive policies and a return to law and international commitments and respect our nation." A similar sentiment was earlier voiced by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who conveyed hope that "the next US administration" will drop its belligerent policy toward Tehran.

Major US news outlets projected Joe Biden to get more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to beat Trump in the race for the White House. On Saturday evening, Biden thanked his supporters for delivering a "clear" and "convincing" victory. Trump, meanwhile, refused to concede, arguing that he has "won this election, by a lot." He alleged that there has been "a major fraud," and vowed to challenge the results in the US Supreme Court.

Relations between Iran and the US deteriorated significantly after Trump unilaterally took the country out of the 2015 nuclear deal on the Iranian nuclear program. The move was condemned by the other signatories of the agreement – the EU, Russia, and China.

Under the deal, Iran would scale down its nuclear activities. In return, international sanctions on Tehran were lifted, and the Islamic Republic was allowed to sell its oil and gas across the globe.

Trump, on the other hand, re-imposed old restrictions on Tehran and introduced new ones, while claiming that Iran was secretly violating the "spirit" of the agreement. Iran has repeatedly rejected US allegations of pursuing any programs related to nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic has since begun to scale down its commitments under the agreement, and promised to return to full compliance if the EU provides some sort of sanctions relief.

The 2015 deal was signed by the Barack Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president. During his election campaign, Biden pledged to rejoin the agreement if Tehran returns to following it in full as well.

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