US presidents all alike, Iran expects no change: Velayati

A senior Iranian official says the Islamic Republic expects to see no change in the behavior of the United States toward Iran with the coming and going of different American presidents.

“We have witnessed Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama presidencies,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, making passing references to presidents who took office in the US after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. “They all treated Iran the same way, and not one of them is different from the others.”

Velayati, who advises Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, was speaking in a televised interview on Sunday night.

Remarking on the characteristics of the competing US presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Velayati said they were “the two sides of the same coin.”

“One shows the US’s true face, and the other is the face of America with make-up. This gentleman (Trump) is the un-retouched face of America, and that lady (Clinton) is the US’s retouched face.”

‘Why should we talk Syria with US?’

Responding to a question on whether Iran should negotiate with the US on Syria — as some people believe it should, Velayati dismissed such beliefs.

“Are they (the Americans) representing the Syrian people so they can dictate what they should do and so that we need to negotiate with them on who should be Syria’s president?” Velayati asked, rhetorically.

“Why and based on what entitlement are the Americans saying that, ‘[Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad must leave and the person that we have in mind be president?’”

Recalling the experience of previous, fruitless Iranian talks with the US, Velayati said Iran once engaged in negotiations with the US under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) over Afghanistan.

“But as soon as the Americans invaded Afghanistan, ... Bush named Iran... part of the ‘axis of evil,’” he said referring to the then-US president George W. Bush.

“This is our experience of negotiations with the US under the auspices of the UN,” he said.