Outside the Beltway

Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran

James Joyner · Wednesday, October 20, 2004 · 2 comments

Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran (AP)

The head of Iran’s security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran’s best interests, despite the administration’s axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country’s nuclear ambitions. Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security decision-making body. “We haven’t seen anything good from Democrats,” Rowhani told state-run television in remarks that, for the first time in recent decades, saw Iran openly supporting one U.S. presidential candidate over another.

Though Iran generally does not publicly wade into U.S. presidential politics, it has a history of preferring Republicans over Democrats, who tend to press human rights issues. “We do not desire to see Democrats take over,” Rowhani said when asked if Iran was supporting Democratic Sen. John Kerry against Bush.

I was amused by this in much the same as I was by yesterday’s “endorsement” of Senator Kerry by Yasir Arafat. But there’s a rather significant difference:

The Bush campaign said no thanks. “It’s not an endorsement we’ll be accepting anytime soon,” Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said. “Iran should stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons and if they continue in the direction they are going, then we will have to look at what additional action may need to be taken including looking to the U.N. Security Council.”

Smart move.