Tehran has strongly rejected US President Donald Trump’s remarks calling for Iran to surrender and his comments on the election of the country’s next supreme leader, which Iranian officials have described as “irrational and unacceptable.”
Abbas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, a Middle East research organization, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Trump’s recent statements did not indicate any change in Tehran’s policy. Rather, it reinforced Iran’s current position.
Iranian officials have said that the election of the country’s supreme leader is a constitutional process and falls entirely within the jurisdiction of the Assembly of Experts, and that any foreign interference in this matter is unacceptable.
Analyst Aslani said, “The recent observation of the situation shows a clear confident tone in Tehran’s position. Despite US pressure, Iran is showing no signs of backing down from its policy stance.”