Tehran - A senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader welcomed
Barack Obama's victory in US presidential elections, calling it a
sign of failure of President George W. Bush's policies.
'The next US president should abandon the course taken by
President Bush and the American people have to change their policies
in order to get rid of the quagmire that he created for them,' former
parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel was quoted as saying by
Iranian media.
'The victory of this slogan ('change') is the admission of the
American people to the failure of Bush's policies,' Hadad-Adel added.
It was the first reaction by Iranian officials following a harshly
worded statement issued early Wednesday by Iran's military, warning
American forces in Iraq that it would strongly respond to any
violation of Iranian airspace.
'American military helicopters were recently flying in short
distances from Iraq's joint borders with Iran and while the borders
are not straight there would be the possibility of violating Iran's
airspace,' Iran's army headquarters said in a statement carried by
official news agency IRNA.
'So Iranian armed forces would strongly respond in case of any
violations,' said the statement.
Washington, which has no diplomatic ties with Tehran, accuses Iran
of fuelling an insurgency in Iraq by equipping and training militants
and also has accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons.
Tehran denies the charges saying instability in Iraq is due to the
presence of the American military and its nuclear programme is
peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.
Observers believe that although Iranian leaders prefer Obama as
the next US president they are aware that there would be no major
change in Washington's policies towards the Islamic Republic.
'The Islamic republic (of Iran) needs to keep its enmity with
America so you will witness the same stance towards the US as before,
but probably with a softer rhetoric if they see the same rhetoric
from the new American administration,' a political analyst told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa under the condition of anonymity.
'This could be the best opportunity for Tehran to ease the
tensions with Washington but through a moderate administration, not
the current radical one headed by President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad,'
said the analyst.
USA
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