Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted on Sunday that his country extends its hands to its neighbors and called on all to engage in dialogue to end tensions, referring to recent media projections on the winner of the US 2020 presidential election.
"Trump is gone and we and our neighbors are staying. Betting on foreigners does not bring security, and disappoints. We extend our hands to our neighbors in order to cooperate in achieving common interests of our peoples and countries," he tweeted in Arabic.
Zarif called on "everyone to engage in dialogue as the only way to end differences and tensions", pointing out that "Together we will build a better future for our region".
In an English version of the tweet, the Iranian foreign minister specified that Trump, given election projections that he will lose the 2020 election, would leave the White House in 70 days.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that a new US administration had a chance to reverse Trump’s "harmful, incorrect" policies and end the president's maximum pressure approach.
"Now is the time for the next administration of the United States to make up for past mistakes and return to the path of adherence to international obligations," he said, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told the Al-Alam news channel that Iran did not have high hopes that the US would get back into the 2015 nuclear deal, arguing that the Trump administration only had its own interests at heart.
The Trump administration in 2018 withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran deal, that was aimed at curbing Iranian nuclear capabilities and preventing Tehran from creating nuclear weapons. Following the withdrawal, Trump reimposed harsh economic sanctions on Tehran, urging all countries to follow suit, while threatening to impose sanctions against those who refused to do so.
Tensions between the US and Iran and in the Middle East escalated following the 4 January assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was targeted in an American airstrike while in Iraq on what was reported to be a diplomatic mission.
Trump ordered Soleimani's killing, which quickly led to counter-attack against American bases in Iraq.
US media declared Biden the winner of the 2020 US presidential election on Saturday. Although Biden claimed victory on Saturday, Trump continues to assert that the race is not yet over. Trump has consistently claimed that the election was fraudulent and promised that his administration would assert its claim to victory in US courts.