Advisor to Ali Khamenei: Trump Needs to Move Forward a Bit to See How It Is

Reactions from two senior officials close to Ali Khamenei and Masoud Pezeshkian have been interpreted as a potential effort by the Iranian government to establish communication with Donald Trump, the newly elected President of the United States. Ali Larijani, advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and former Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, reacted to Mr. Trump's victory by saying, "We don't know, he needs to move forward a bit to see how it is, because last time he didn't behave wisely." He added in an interview with Iran's News Network on Thursday evening, November 17, that, "In some of his statements, there were signs, for example, close to voting, he said he does not want to go to war with Iran, he wants the Iranian nuclear issue not to go towards weapons." His reference was to Donald Trump's statements on November 15, after casting his vote in Florida, where he told reporters that he does not seek to "harm Iran" but that Tehran "cannot have nuclear weapons." He also mentioned that he has "very easy" conditions regarding Iran and that he would like Iran to be a "very successful country." Larijani also added that Iran should not "link its work to Donald Trump" and described sanctions as "a stone in front of the movement of development" in Iran, stating, "This stone needs to be removed; it may be late, but we should not mourn." Besides Trump, Brian Hook, the U.S. representative for Iran, emphasized on Thursday to CNN that Iran is a factor of "instability in the region," stating, "Mr. Trump's goal is not to change the regime of the Islamic Republic, as the people of Iran should decide about their future." Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Iranian Foreign Minister and strategic deputy of Masoud Pezeshkian, also reacted to Trump's election as the new President of the United States. He wrote on the social media platform "X": "We hope that the new government led by Trump and Vance, as promised, will stand against war and learn from the clear lesson that American voters have given to end wars and prevent new ones." These statements were made while the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic did not mention the outcome of the election in his speech the day after Donald Trump's victory. However, during Trump's first term, he repeatedly criticized him and his actions, stating in August 2018 that, "If at any point, hypothetically, the Islamic Republic were to negotiate with the U.S. regime, it would never negotiate with the Trump administration. Therefore, we do not negotiate, and it is forbidden; everyone should know that." Official government figures, such as the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the spokesman for Masoud Pezeshkian's government, described Trump's victory as insignificant on Wednesday and Thursday. Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA, which had been achieved after years of international diplomatic efforts, and adopted a maximum pressure policy against the Islamic Republic. The order to kill Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, by Trump is also considered one of the actions that marked the beginning of a domino effect of killing commanders of the Islamic Republic's proxy groups in the region. However, in recent days, several well-known political figures and supporters of the Islamic Republic on social media have written that the Iranian government should forget about the killing of Qassem Soleimani, just as it made peace with Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, and enter into proactive negotiations with Trump for the "benefit of the system." Hamid Abutalebi, the political deputy of former President Hassan Rouhani, also asked Masoud Pezeshkian to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election. He wrote, "The only way for the Islamic Republic is to design and implement a new strategy to comprehensively solve the problems of the two countries."