Iran Rejects Allegation of Interference in US Election

The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Iran's Foreign Ministry
The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Iran's Foreign Ministry
TT

Iran Rejects Allegation of Interference in US Election

The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Iran's Foreign Ministry
The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Iran's Foreign Ministry

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has rejected claims made by US Attorney General Merrick Garland about increasing efforts by some countries, including Iran, to interfere in the US presidential elections.

Kanaani rejected the “hackneyed, baseless and biased” allegations, saying such accusations pursue domestic political objectives in the US.

"We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, (to) interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy," Garland said earlier this week.

Kanaani reminded the American officials that they cannot heal the rifts and settle their country’s internal problems, which he said have structural, political and social roots, by pinning the blame on others and leveling accusations against the foreign countries.

“The US government, which spearheads illegal interference in the internal affairs of the other independent states and has a litany of such destructive measures on its record, cannot attribute its domestic problems and crises to the other countries by making accusations against them or cover up the dark record of its extrajudicial actions and interference in the internal affairs of the independent states,” he added.



Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
TT

Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday accused Panama of charging excessive rates for use of the Panama Canal and said that if Panama did not manage the canal in an acceptable fashion, he would demand the US ally hand it over.

In an evening post on Truth Social, Trump also warned he would not let the canal fall into the "wrong hands," and he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing the canal should not be managed by China.

The post was an exceedingly rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. It also underlines an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.

The United States largely built the canal and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the US government fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

"It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question."

The Panamanian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.