Iran’s TehranEven if several recent U.S. choices came from a guy Iranian spies have allegedly been scheming to kill, Iran’s government appears to be applauding them.
Iranian state media have praised President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze foreign aid expenditure and restructure, if not abolish, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
According to the reports, the rulings will stop funding for pro-democracy activists and opponents of the nation’s Shiite theocracy, as well as other people who are sponsored by programs run by the U.S. government to foster democracy around the world.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials seem to be indicating that they are awaiting word from Trump over his desire to engage in negotiations regarding Tehran’s quickly developing nuclear program. The future of a program on the verge of enriching weapons-grade uranium and the possible loss of billions of dollars due to crushing sanctions are at risk.
Additionally, Trump indicated he wished to talk with Tehran even as he signed an executive order on Tuesday to reimpose his greatest pressure on Iran.
Ordinary Iranians, however, are concerned about the implications of all of this. Following Trump’s decree, Iran’s currency, the rial, fell to a historic low of 850,000 to $1 on Wednesday, illustrating the country’s continued economic instability. It was 32,000 rials to $1 ten years ago.
According to Maryam Faraji, a 27-year-old waitress in a coffee shop in northern Tehran, it motivates hard-liners inside Iran to carry out repressions because they believe the United States would be less able to assist Iranians who want freedom.
Reducing funding for foreign-based opposition groups may have an impact on Tehran-Washington relations, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Newspapers, such as the conservative Hamshhari daily, characterized the opposition in Iran as counterrevolutionaries who were celebrating Trump’s victory as a sign that the Islamic Republic was coming to an end.
The newspaper crowed as they were shocked to learn that their employer had slashed their funding.
The Foreign Ministry also echoed the reformist weekly Hammihan, which likened it to a cold shower for those who oppose Iran’s theocracy overseas.
Esmail Bagahei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters during a briefing on Monday that those funds are not charitable contributions. They are compensation for services rendered.
Bagahei continued, “This is a blatant example of America’s interventionist policy, especially during the Biden administration, which attempted to exert pressure on Iran and interfere in its internal affairs through financial aid.”
The impact of the USAID ruling on financing for Iranian opposition leaders and activists is still unknown.
Iran also observed that at last week’s United Nations Human Rights Council assessment in Geneva, the United States refrained from directly criticizing the Islamic Republic. This could indicate that Trump is open to negotiations, which he frequently mentioned during his presidential campaign, according to those in Iran’s leadership.
In a speech in September, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, even welcomed negotiations with the United States, stating that there is no harm in interacting with the adversary. He softened it in more recent times, cautioning that cunning schemes could still be hidden under tactful smiles.
Although Iran hasn’t received approval for talks yet, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Bagahei, stated that Iran is making every effort to show that it wants them.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist president of Iran who ran on a platform of reaching out to the West, advised officials on Monday to pay attention to Iranian opposition and refrain from implementing more crackdowns such to those that followed Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022.
According to Pezeshkian, the adversaries want to incite conflict inside the nation in order to drive people out onto the streets and then take advantage of the protests themselves.
Trump said that if Tehran were to assassinate him, the nation would be destroyed as he signed the executive order on Iran on Tuesday. He did, however, leave the door open for discussions.
He stated from the Oval Office, “I’m going to sign it, but hopefully we won’t have to use it very much.” We’ll see if we can manage to negotiate an agreement with Iran.
Theocratic groups in Iran are still likely to oppose negotiations, though, either for personal gain or because they are upset that Trump approved the 2020 drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the nation’s top general and a highly regarded figure.
Iranian calls for Trump’s death and purported plots against him were stoked by that killing. The Justice Department revealed an Iranian murder-for-hire plan to assassinate Trump in November. Tehran has a history of planning the murder of opponents overseas, even though it denied any involvement in the incident.
According to Iranian political expert Ahmad Zeiabadi, this won’t affect the groups that are against discussions with the United States, but some moderates might use it as a pretext to claim that Trump is making some progress.