Kourosh Ziabari – Asia Times: The theatrical presidential race in the US is over after a blistering campaign season. Even though the loser has defied a long-standing tradition by refusing to concede defeat and congratulate his challenger, it is safe to assume Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20, 2021, as the 46th president of the United States.
Newspapers, radio and TV stations, and news agencies are flooded with analysis and commentaries about how this election was epoch-making and unparalleled, what should be expected of Joe Biden, eyed by millions of Americans, as well as people in the four corners of the globe to undo the damage done by the eccentric Donald Trump to the pillars of democracy and multilateralism, and what the world will look like in the post-Trump era.
The new president and his administration will have to go to great lengths to restore the classical leadership role of the United States on the global stage, remind the American people of the true contours of presidential oratory and eloquence, and confront a slew of challenges blighting the global community, ranging from climate change and war in Afghanistan to the economic cataclysm stemming from Covid-19.
I have not surveyed other nations on how they have been following this dramatic presidential competition, but I can argue with a good degree of certainty that the Iranian citizen who first concocted the viral meme that “Iranians should be allocated at least six electoral votes for the passionate way they track the developments of the US presidential election” was not misguided.
From the Supreme Leader to the president, parliamentary Speaker and other high- and mid-ranking officials, there was rare unanimity among Iran’s political elite in trotting out the talking point that US elections do not matter to Iran and regardless of who was elected this time, the Islamic Republic would not condition its economy or future decisions on the outcome of the US polls.
Yet that disclaimer, most probably expressed to give the impression that Iran is resilient and self-sufficient enough not to be affected by the transition of power within the borders of the world’s foremost superpower, could not shroud that on the streets, in taxis, cafes, restaurants, retail stores, family gatherings and all over the social media, the US election was the most popular theme for discussion by Iranians in the weeks leading up to November 3.
Over the past couple of weeks, and more broadly throughout the campaign season, Iranians have been fixated on the Trump-Biden rivalry, conjecturing different scenarios on what the future holds for Iran-US relations in the case of a Trump re-election or a Biden victory.
Discussion forums, Facebook groups and Telegram channels were replete with animated conversations between the Iranian supporters of the two candidates, sometimes degenerating into furious bickering and exchange of expletives, and the Persian-language Twitter forum was a scene for more enlightened theorizations about which candidate had higher chances of winning the race and how the victor would lay out his Iran policy.
This profound infatuation with the civic processes of a foreign country is definitely unusual, if not exceptional. It is of course the case that the United States is an important country, and President Trump’s unsparing, Machiavellian policies on the Islamic Republic throughout the past four years have made Iranians more sensitive and vulnerable to the evolutions of US politics. Words should not be minced in admitting the gravity of the presidential race in America not only for Iranians, but for the entire world.
Yet to see Iranians lining up against each other, embarking on aggressive broadsides over the outcome of elections in a country they have the least direct engagement with is somewhat peculiar, probably pointing to the deep social divisions in the enigmatic Iranian society.