Sputnik - Iranian Kurdistan Representative to the United States Arash Saleh said that the outcome of the Iranian presidential election is not going to impact the relationship between Iran and the United States.





WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The outcome of the Iranian presidential election is not going to impact the relationship between Iran and the United States, Iranian Kurdistan Representative to the United States Arash Saleh told Sputnik.
"I believe the Iran-US relations are going to continue on the same path," Saleh said on Friday. "Iran`s confrontation with the USA is happening right now with Iran`s proxies in Syria, Yaman, and direct interventions in Iraq."


The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is dealing with the confrontation with the United States and the current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cannot and would not stop it himself, Saleh noted.

Supreme Leader of Iran Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, he added, will dictate policies because presidents "have no say in foreign affairs or sometimes even major internal policies."

By using the IRGC as leverage, Saleh claimed, Khamenei will continue to ensure Iran's destructive role in the region and threaten stability across the globe.

Polling stations in Iran closed at 12:00 PM local time (19:30 GMT) after voting hours were extended several times during Friday's presidential election and the vote counting process has started, local media reported.

Over 63,000 polling stations opened in Iran on Friday. Iranians have a choice between four candidates this year, including incumbent President Hasan Rouhani, Ebrahim Raisi, former Vice President Mostafa Hashemitaba, and head of the Islamic Coalition Party’s Central Council Mostafa Mirsalim. More than 56,400,000 Iranian people were eligible to vote.