Donald Trump has been a central feature of the Iranian presidential campaign, with all six candidates talking as if his return to the White House is a foregone conclusion but disagreeing over who is best suited to deal with him, the The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
"Wait and you will see what will happen when Trump comes," one candidate, the cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi, said during a recent televised debate. "We have to get ready for negotiations." Another candidate, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, accused the other candidates at a debate of having "Trump-phobia," insisting that only he could manage him.
"The potential return of the Trump administration has become a bogey in presidential debates," Vali Nasr, a former Obama administration official and a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, told the Times.
"Hardliners argue their toughness will tame Trump, and moderate and reformist candidates believe that Trump will react to hardliners with even more pressure on Iran, hinting that they are better positioned to change the conversation with the U.S.," he said.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the conservative speaker of the Iranian Parliament, who is considered the front-runner in the presidential race, said that "when we are facing an enemy like Trump who does not behave with integrity, we have to be calculative in our behavior."
Ghalibaf, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has said that restoring the nuclear deal and sanctions relief are among his top priorities. He said if the president does not make timely decisions he would "either have to sell Iran to Trump or create tensions in the country."