TEHRAN, Jun 29 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, yesterday, condemned recent “meddlesome” remarks by a U.S. official, about Iran’s 14th presidential election.
Kanaani made the remarks on social media platform X, reacting to a series of posts by U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, on his X account on Wednesday.
Paley claimed that, Iran’s elections were “not fair and free” or conducive to any “fundamental change in the country’s direction,” hurling a number of accusations against the Iranian government.
Kanaani said, Paley’s remarks were a “flagrant interference and absurd,” adding, the U.S. officials would achieve nothing by making such “worthless” statements.
He stressed that, “the Iranian people in this election will respond firmly to such meddlesome remarks, through their effective participation and spirited presence at the polling stations.”
Kanaani said, peoples worldwide had witnessed the impacts and results of the “American diplomacy” inside the United States, and in other parts of the world, and have tasted its “bitter flavour.”
He added, the people’s “direct and genuine” role in deciding their political fate in Iran had always been proven in practice, stressing that, the validity and health of the elections in Iran had been proven in the country’s previous voting processes.
Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled, following the unexpected death of Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, in a helicopter crash on May 19.
Paley claimed the candidates in Iran’s election had been “hand-picked” by the country’s Constitutional Council, and the Iranian people “lack access to even the most basic freedoms; necessary features of any democracy.”
The four candidates competing in the election are Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker; Saeed Jalili, the former top negotiator for nuclear talks; Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister and justice minister; and Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister.– NNN-IRNA
