US deluded if thinks can sway Iran election: Defense minister
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan says the United States is under an illusion if it assumes that it can influence the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election in Iran, stressing that the Islamic Republic pursues a firmly-established and principled approach toward the US.
“If the Americans think that they can influence Iran’s election, they are completely deluded because the Iranian nation is a wise nation and knows its enemies and acts contrary to the enemy’s demand,” Dehqan said in an interview with RT Arabic published on Friday.
He added that the US and Britain as well as the various media outlets affiliated to them seek to support one political camp against the other in Iran's election.
"We are telling them that that is not how things are and our nation makes decisions based on the conditions specific to that time ," the minister said, adding, "That's why they do not look to the US or UK in elections."
Dehqan further emphasized that the Iranian people are fully aware that the West offers no "breakthrough" to them.
"The Iranians are struggling for the realization of their own dignity. This issue has been proven over the past thirty or more years that the Iranian nation is moving along a clear path for the materialization of its goals and will certainly view issues according to their own special conditions and never forget the main objective."
Iran will simultaneously hold the 12th presidential election and the 5th City and Village Councils Elections on May 19. Some 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote for a new president in what is expected to be a close race.
Iran’s Interior Ministry on April 20 released the final list of candidates qualified to run in the May presidential election. The six candidates running for the election are Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim, Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, Es’haq Jahangiri, Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned on April 19 of hostile attempts aimed at marring Iran’s upcoming elections, calling for a massive turnout in the vote to disappoint the enemies.
Ayatollah Khamenei described a successful election as an “asset” for the nation.
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