Iran's First Reaction to Obama's Victory

Regarding Tehran’s first official reaction to Obama’s victory, the Foreign Minister of Iran announced that he hopes the new President of the United States can fulfill the wishes of the people.

Mr. Mottaki believes that the separation between the current administration’s improper tactics and the American people’s desire for change was the reason Barack Obama was elected president of the country.

Government News Agency IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) today (Wednesday), quoted the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic by writing: “Electing Barack Obama as the president of America shows the clear preference and the sentiment of the people of this country for fundamental changes in America’s domestic and foreign policies.”

Fars News Agency also reported that the announcement regarding Obama’s victory over McCain, the Republican candidate, during the Presidential elections will have a “positive psychological tone” on the activities taking place in Tehran’s stock exchange.

Obama, the first black president of America, and the 44th president of this country will begin working in the White House on January 20th, 2009 (the first day of Bahman, the 11th solar month of the Persian calendar of this year, 1387).

News Agencies reported that the news regarding his (Obama’s) victory was communicated to him when he earned 349 electoral votes from 48 states. At that moment, John McCain received 163 electoral votes.

Up until now, Obama has received 62,302,690 votes while 55,267,212 people voted for McCain. Ninety-five percent of the counted ballots have led to those statistics.

Missouri, which has 11 electoral votes, and North Carolina, which has 15 electoral votes, have yet to announce their results.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, previously announced that he does not believe permission would be granted for Obama to be president. Islamic Republic Officials have announced many times that they do not favor one candidate in the American elections over the other.

Hamid Reza Babai, a representative of the 8th Parliament also said during talks with a French news agency that “Obama promised change and we are waiting for that change”.

Fars news agency reported that Gholamali Hadad Adel, also commenting about Obama’s victory in America’s presidential election, said that “this victory is a real defeat for America throughout the world”.

Ties were severed between the Islamic Republic of Iran and The United States of America during the year of 1358 (1979), after the “University Student Followers of the Imam’s Path” attacked the American Embassy in Tehran and took diplomats and embassy personnel hostage during the month of Aban that same year. (Aban is the 8th solar month of the Persian calendar).

Presently, it has been 29 years since the two countries have had any direct diplomatic relations with each other. The Swiss Embassy in Iran has taken the responsibility for preserving America’s interest in the Islamic Republic.