An influential Iranian conservative said a republican victory in the US elections was "preferable" for Tehran with prospects for a possible lifting of US oil sanctions, press reports said Thursday.
"If Bush wins, it will be certain that oil companies will have more liberty to conclude contracts with Iran. It is preferable for us, and it is (even) possible that oil sanctions against Iran will be lifted," said Mohammed-Javad Larijani.
Larijani, who is close to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the election of republican George W. Bush could lead to a "small change in US policies" towards the Middle East because the democrats are "much closer to the Zionist lobby."
He also said that talks on Iran-US relations, which broke off in 1980 several months after the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, are not a "taboo subject", adding that "we have to see whether these relations will serve our interests."
"For our national interests, we can even negotiate with the Satan at the bottom of hell," said Larijani, who is also a member of parliament's foreign policy committee, adding that: "China has done it."
Tehran will re-establish its relations with Washington as soon as "the US government takes sufficient distance from Israel," he said.
On Tuesday, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Kazempour-Ardebili said a lifting of US oil sanctions against Iran was "inevitable...because the Democrats, like the Republicans, know that they (the sanctions) are of no use."
"Representatives from US oil firms had informed Iran five months ahead of the US presidential elections that in case of a Republican victory, the sanctions would be lifted swiftly," he said, adding that were "no difficulties" on Iran's side.
On Monday, the foreign ministry here also said that a possible improvement in Tehran-Washington ties depended on the outcome of the elections.
Iranian officials and the press here have criticized the US election, which remains undecided weeks after the vote amid unprecedented legal wrangling over a recount of votes in the key state of Florida – TEHRAN (AFP)
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