Senior Clerics in Iran Show Reactions to Trump’s Election

Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi Hosseini Hamedani, the Leader’s representative in Alborz Province, referred to the recent US elections as one of the unique events in the contemporary history of the world.

“The situation in the US society … became so adverse that a deep social gap was made between elites and ordinary people, insomuch that they were convinced to vote for a licentious crazy man to get out of this black hole and reform their ruling system,” he said, as reported by Tasnim and translated by IFP.

He referred to the remarks made by Trump and Hillary Clinton during the US presidential debates, and said that they disgraced their country and destroyed the credit Americans claimed to have.

“Many scandals were revealed during the debates and these remarks suffice to discourage those who long for having relationship and talks with this country,” he added.

“One of the candidates admitted that the US is dying, and this is completely true. We repeat the same slogan, death to America, every week,” Ayatollah Hosseini Hamedani noted.

“The entire world has understood that the US is not anymore the world power it used to be, and God has prepared the grounds for Americans to destroy themselves,” he added.

The entire world has understood that the US is not anymore the world power it used to be

“Changes in the US should not have any impact on Iran, and those who seek to have relations with the US want Iran to be independent to Washington. They are opposed to Iran’s independence, and are trying to make us dependent once again,” the senior cleric went on to say.

According to a report by Tasnim, as translated by IFP, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Leader’s representative in holy city of Mashhad, said the new US president has an embarrassing background including a sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl, and this is a shame for a country that claims to be the world’s number one democracy.

 
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, the Friday Prayers Imam of Tehran, also warned the next US president against repeating his predecessors’ mistakes about Iran, saying Washington must avoid “playing with fire.”

“Iranians are a brave nation. Beware, toying with Iran is [like] playing with fire,” said Ayatollah Khatami during a sermon to worshipers at the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran.
He added that if the US president-elect Trump follows the same path as his predecessors, he would undoubtedly face the same fate.

“The American people are weary of adventurism of the country’s statesmen across the world,” the cleric said, as reported by Press TV.

He added that wherever the slightest turmoil breaks out, the US shows up and said the country’s taxpayers’ money is spent to murder people in Yemen, Syria and other countries.

Khatami said a country grappling with so many problems cannot end the plights of other nations and expressed hope that Trump would act wisely and steer clear of tensions with any country.

On the US presidential election, he added, the Islamic Republic pursued impartiality which was a “very prudent and reasonable policy.”

A country grappling with so many problems [the US] cannot end the plights of other nations.

After the presidential election, Iran also adopted a wise stance because it does not “interfere in [the affairs of] any country and respects the countries’ nations and their votes,” Khatami said and noted that Tehran has been committed to this policy since the victory of the Islamic Revolution some 37 years ago.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, the Friday Prayers Imam of the holy city of Qom, said that Iran is a free and independent country whose ideas and causes are not at all dependent on the childish games and domestic conflicts in the US.

“Iran has never interfered in the internal affairs and conflicts of the US. We don’t care about the ones coming and going in this country,” he went on to say, as reported by Tasnim and translated by IFP.

“The US policies have not changed,” Ayatollah Arafi said, noting that Americans cannot change their approaches towards Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

Ali Rezaei, the Friday Prayers Imam in Birjand [eastern Iran], also referred to Trump as a racist and capitalist bully, and stressed that the American people will be harmed by the election of this man, as reported by ISNA, and translated by IFP.