Washington:
The United States mentioned Saturday it regretted Iranians have been not in a position to participate in a “free and fair electoral process” in the country’s presidential election.
In the initially reaction from Washington to ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi’s election win, a State Department spokesperson mentioned “Iranians were denied their right to choose their own leaders in a free and fair electoral process.”
The United States will nonetheless continue indirect talks with Iran on the US rejoining the 2015 nuclear accord that Donald Trump abandoned, the spokesperson also mentioned.
In Iran’s election, a lot of political heavyweights have been barred from operating. Raisi is seen as close to 81-year-old supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate political energy in Iran.
Many voters chose to keep away just after the field of some 600 hopefuls, such as 40 females, had been winnowed down to seven candidates, all males, excluding an ex-president and a former parliament speaker.
Three of the vetted candidates dropped out two days ahead of Friday’s vote.
On the Iran nuclear accord, the State Department spokesperson mentioned indirect talks in Vienna in between the US and Iran had made “meaningful progress” and that Washington wanted to construct on this.
“We will continue discussions along with our allies and partners on a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The discussions in Vienna, brokered by European diplomats, have been locked in dispute on which sanctions imposed on Iran would be lifted.
()