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Iran After Trump’s Win: Calls for New Approach, Challenge to Soleimani’s ‘Killer’

An Iranian holds a copy of the Hamshahri newspaper in a street in downtown Tehran (EPA)
An Iranian holds a copy of the Hamshahri newspaper in a street in downtown Tehran (EPA)
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Iran After Trump’s Win: Calls for New Approach, Challenge to Soleimani’s ‘Killer’

An Iranian holds a copy of the Hamshahri newspaper in a street in downtown Tehran (EPA)
An Iranian holds a copy of the Hamshahri newspaper in a street in downtown Tehran (EPA)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election offers an opportunity for the US to reassess its “misguided policies.”

“What matters for Iran is the performance of the US administration,” said Ismail Baghai on Thursday, noting that Tehran had “bitter experiences” with past US policies.

He added that Trump’s win is a “chance to reconsider the previous wrong directions” of the US, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Iranian newspapers were divided, with some calling for Tehran to adopt a new approach, while others opposed the policies of the “architect of maximum pressure” and the “killer” of Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US election result was of no concern to Iran.

“It doesn't matter to us who won the US election, as our strength lies in our internal power and a great nation,” Pezeshkian said.

“We are not narrow-minded in developing relations with other countries, prioritizing ties with Islamic and neighboring nations,” he added, according to Iranian media. It was unclear if he was referring to the US, with which Iran has no diplomatic ties.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has banned direct talks with the US.

On Wednesday, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mahdiani downplayed the importance of the election.

“The US presidential election won’t affect us. Iran’s policies remain unchanged,” she said.

“It doesn't matter who the US president is. We’ve already planned for various scenarios, given the sanctions on Iran for over 40 years,” she added.

Last Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: “We don’t place much importance on the US election or who is elected.”

Baghai, speaking at his weekly press conference on Monday, said Iran’s stance on Trump is “clear” when asked how Tehran would respond if Trump offered to negotiate.

Trump’s victory comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, with direct strikes exchanged after years of indirect conflict.

Reuters speculated that Trump’s return to office would mean stricter enforcement of US oil sanctions on Iran, which were imposed in 2018 after the US left the nuclear deal.

Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s policy of not enforcing strict sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, claiming it weakened the US and emboldened Tehran to expand its nuclear program and support armed groups.

In his first term, Trump reimposed sanctions after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, which had limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits.

These sanctions hurt Iran’s oil exports, reduced government revenue, and led to unpopular measures like tax hikes, while inflation remained near 40%.

In September, Pezeshkian said Tehran was ready to resolve the nuclear issue with the West, which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but officials have hinted at possibly changing its direction.

Biden tried to revive the nuclear deal but failed to reach a new agreement. It’s unclear if Trump would pursue a similar approach.

Trump’s victory in the US presidential election dominated Iranian newspapers on Thursday morning, with the reformist Sazandegi newspaper, under the headline “Trump’s Return,” saying that no decision-makers in Iran are comfortable with Trump’s win, as it could harm the country in several ways.

The paper, aligned with former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s faction, predicted that Trump might increase uncertainty, tighten sanctions, block Iran’s oil exports, and destabilize the economy, which would hurt ordinary Iranians.

The paper also suggested that the situation could change if the Iranian government adjusts its approach in response to Trump’s win but criticized Iran’s decision-makers for being slow to adapt.

It acknowledged that while Iran’s actions over the past 50 years have led all US administrations to view it as an enemy, the impact of the US president can vary.

The newspaper warned that Trump’s policies could lead to a bigger budget deficit, rising inflation, and a higher exchange rate, all of which would harm various sectors of Iran’s economy.

It noted that the country’s currency stability relies on oil revenues and foreign political relations.

With ongoing regional tensions and sanctions, any drop in oil revenues and difficulty accessing global markets could worsen Iran’s economic challenges, making it harder for the government to manage its budget and financial crises.

Analysts quoted by Sazandegi said Trump’s reelection might not lead to war but could result in harsher sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs without military action.

They also predicted that Russia might increase its pressure on Iran, potentially pushing the country toward a “Look East” strategy.

Reformist politician Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in Arman Emruz that Trump, as a businessman, would likely prefer economic cooperation with Iran over military conflict.

He suggested Trump might push for trade talks with Iran, opening the market to US companies, similar to European firms before the nuclear deal.

Hashemi noted that any conflict could drive up oil and gas prices, and as a businessman, Trump would likely avoid this. Instead, he would seek to strengthen economic ties between Iran and the US.

Hashemi also pointed out that the nuclear deal brought Iran significant economic benefits, including the return of $100 billion in frozen assets.

Arman Emruz warned that Trump’s return could escalate Middle East tensions and complicate relations with China and Russia over issues like Ukraine and Taiwan.

Etemad newspaper said that during his first term, Trump tried to turn Iran from a legitimate player into a pariah state, aiming to restrict and isolate it. It added that Trump’s return now is not in Iran’s interest.

The paper called for a “different policy” toward Trump. Reformist activist and former MP Mahmoud Sadeghi said it’s too early to assess Trump’s performance, especially since he won unexpectedly.

Sadeghi pointed out that for Iranians, the key concern is how Trump’s election will affect domestic issues, recalling his role in the strike that killed Gen. Soleimani five years ago.

He warned against falling into “self-sanctions” and urged Iran to address the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rules to fight money laundering.

On regional policy, Sadeghi stressed the need for the government to act wisely to avoid being caught in the Netanyahu-Trump rivalry. He emphasized the importance of seizing every opportunity, no matter how small.

Former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh compared Trump’s return to the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and dismissed the idea that Democrats and Republicans are the same, especially on the nuclear deal.

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Donald Trump Has Sweeping Plans for 2nd Administration. Here's What He's Proposed

FILE - In this June 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this June 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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Donald Trump Has Sweeping Plans for 2nd Administration. Here's What He's Proposed

FILE - In this June 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this June 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Donald Trump has promised sweeping action in a second administration.

The former president and now president-elect often skipped over details but through more than a year of policy pronouncements and written statements outlined a wide-ranging agenda that blends traditional conservative approaches to taxes, regulation and cultural issues with a more populist bent on trade and a shift in America's international role.

Trump's agenda also would scale back federal government efforts on civil rights and expand presidential powers.

A look at what Trump has proposed, according to The Associated Press:

Immigration “Build the wall!” from his 2016 campaign has become creating “the largest mass deportation program in history.” Trump has called for using the National Guard and empowering domestic police forces in the effort. Still, Trump has been scant on details of what the program would look like and how he would ensure that it targeted only people in the US illegally. He’s pitched “ideological screening” for would-be entrants, ending birth-right citizenship (which almost certainly would require a constitutional change), and said he’d reinstitute first-term policies such as “Remain in Mexico,” limiting migrants on public health grounds and severely limiting or banning entrants from certain majority-Muslim nations. Altogether, the approach would not just crack down on illegal migration, but curtail immigration overall.

Abortion Trump played down abortion as a second-term priority, even as he took credit for the Supreme Court ending a woman’s federal right to terminate a pregnancy and returning abortion regulation to state governments. At Trump’s insistence, the GOP platform, for the first time in decades, did not call for a national ban on abortion. Trump maintains that overturning Roe v. Wade is enough on the federal level.

Still, Trump has not said explicitly that he would veto national abortion restrictions if they reached his desk. And in an example of how the conservative movement might proceed with or without Trump, anti-abortion activists note that the GOP platform still asserts that a fetus should have due process protections under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. That constitutional argument is a roadmap for conservatives to seek a national abortion ban through federal courts.

Taxes Trump’s tax policies broadly tilt toward corporations and wealthier Americans. That’s mostly due to his promise to extend his 2017 tax overhaul, with a few notable changes that include lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% from the current 21%. That also involves rolling back Democratic President Joe Biden’s income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and scrapping Inflation Reduction Act levies that finance energy measures intended to combat climate change.

Those policies notwithstanding, Trump has put more emphasis on new proposals aimed at working- and middle class Americans: exempting earned tips, Social Security wages and overtime wages from income taxes. It’s noteworthy, however, that his proposal on tips, depending on how Congress might write it, could give a back-door tax break to top wage earners by allowing them to reclassify some of their pay as tip income — a prospect that at its most extreme could see hedge-fund managers or top-flight attorneys taking advantage of a policy that Trump frames as being designed for restaurant servers, bartenders and other service workers.

Tariffs and trade Trump’s posture on international trade is to distrust world markets as harmful to American interests. He proposes tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods — and in some speeches has mentioned even higher percentages. He promises to reinstitute an August 2020 executive order requiring that the Food and Drug Administration buy “essential” medications only from U.S. companies. He pledges to block purchases of “any vital infrastructure” in the US by Chinese buyers.

DEI, LGBTQ and civil rights Trump has called for rolling back societal emphasis on diversity and for legal protections for LGBTQ citizens. Trump has called for ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government institutions, using federal funding as leverage.

On transgender rights, Trump promises generally to end “boys in girls’ sports,” a practice he insists, without evidence, is widespread. But his policies go well beyond standard applause lines from his rally speeches. Among other ideas, Trump would roll back the Biden administration’s policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students, and he would ask Congress to require that only two genders can be recognized at birth.

Regulation, federal bureaucracy and presidential power The president-elect seeks to reduce the role of federal bureaucrats and regulations across economic sectors. Trump frames all regulatory cuts as an economic magic wand. He pledges precipitous drops in US households’ utility bills by removing obstacles to fossil fuel production, including opening all federal lands for exploration — even though U.S energy production is already at record highs. Trump promises to unleash housing construction by cutting regulations — though most construction rules come from state and local government. He also says he would end “frivolous litigation from the environmental extremists.”

The approach would in many ways strengthen executive branch influence. That power would come more directly from the White House.

He would make it easier to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. That could weaken the government’s power to enforce statutes and rules by reducing the number of employees engaging in the work and, potentially, impose a chilling effect on those who remain.

Trump also claims that presidents have exclusive power to control federal spending even after Congress has appropriated money. Trump argues that lawmakers’ budget actions “set a ceiling” on spending but not a floor — meaning the president’s constitutional duty to “faithfully execute the laws” includes discretion on whether to spend the money. This interpretation could set up a court battle with Congress.

As a candidate, he also suggested that the Federal Reserve, an independent entity that sets interest rates, should be subject to more presidential power. Though he has not offered details, any such move would represent a momentous change to how the US economic and monetary systems work.

Education The federal Department of Education would be targeted for elimination in a second Trump administration. That does not mean that Trump wants Washington out of classrooms. He still proposes, among other maneuvers, using federal funding as leverage to pressure K-12 school systems to abolish tenure and adopt merit pay for teachers and to scrap diversity programs at all levels of education. He calls for pulling federal funding “for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”

In higher education, Trump proposes taking over accreditation processes for colleges, a move he describes as his “secret weapon” against the “Marxist Maniacs and lunatics” he says control higher education. Trump takes aim at higher education endowments, saying he will collect “billions and billions of dollars” from schools via “taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments” at schools that do not comply with his edicts. That almost certainly would end up in protracted legal fights.

As in other policy areas, Trump isn’t actually proposing limiting federal power in higher education but strengthening it. He calls for redirecting the confiscated endowment money into an online “American Academy” offering college credentials to all Americans without a tuition charges. “It will be strictly non-political, and there will be no wokeness allowed,” Trump said on Nov. 1, 2023.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Trump insists he would protect Social Security and Medicare, popular programs geared toward older Americans and among the biggest pieces of the federal spending pie each year. There are questions about how his proposal not to tax tip and overtime wages might affect Social Security and Medicare. If such plans eventually involved only income taxes, the entitlement programs would not be affected. But exempting those wages from payroll taxes would reduce the funding stream for Social Security and Medicare outlays. Trump has talked little about Medicaid but his first administration, in general, defaulted to approving state requests for waivers of various federal rules and it broadly endorsed state-level work requirements for recipients.

Affordable Care Act and Health Care As he has since 2015, Trump calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act and its subsidized health insurance marketplaces. But he still has not proposed a replacement: In a September debate, he insisted he had the “concepts of a plan.” In the latter stages of the campaign, Trump played up his alliance with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines and of pesticides used in US agriculture. Trump repeatedly told rally crowds that he would put Kennedy in charge of “making America healthy again."

Climate and energy Trump, who claims falsely that climate change is a “hoax,” blasts Biden-era spending on cleaner energy designed to reduce US reliance on fossil fuels. He proposes an energy policy – and transportation infrastructure spending – anchored to fossil fuels: roads, bridges and combustion-engine vehicles. “Drill, baby, drill!” was a regular chant at Trump rallies. Trump says he does not oppose electric vehicles but promises to end all Biden incentives to encourage EV market development. Trump also pledges to roll back Biden-era fuel efficiency standards.

Workers’ rights Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance framed their ticket as favoring America’s workers. But Trump could make it harder for workers to unionize. In discussing auto workers, Trump focused almost exclusively on Biden’s push toward electric vehicles. When he mentioned unions, it was often to lump “the union bosses and CEOs” together as complicit in “this disastrous electric car scheme.” In an Oct. 23, 2023, statement, Trump said of United Auto Workers, “I’m telling you, you shouldn’t pay those dues.”

National defense and America’s role in the world Trump’s rhetoric and policy approach in world affairs is more isolationist diplomatically, non-interventionist militarily and protectionist economically than the US has been since World War II. But the details are more complicated. He pledges expansion of the military, promises to protect Pentagon spending from austerity efforts and proposes a new missile defense shield — an old idea from the Reagan era during the Cold War. Trump insists he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, without explaining how. Trump summarizes his approach through another Reagan phrase: “peace through strength.” But he remains critical of NATO and top US military brass. “I don’t consider them leaders,” Trump said of Pentagon officials that Americans “see on television.” He repeatedly praised authoritarians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.