The Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday said Iran should not expect a Joe Biden presidency to resolve the issues Iran is facing because Biden and his team will turn Trump's "maximum pressure" to "smart pressure" to force Iran to make "big concessions." 

"Although we are happy about the defeat of the gambler Trump, we deeply believe that people's lives and livelihoods should not be tied to the victory or defeat of someone in the White House. It is our decisions that lay the foundations of our economy…irrespective of these comings and goings," Ghalibaf said in his opening speech at parliament.

Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election has opened the prospect of renewed talks between Washington and Tehran, which could potentially strengthen the position of the so-called reformist faction of the Islamic Republic. Hardliners, such as Ghalibaf have adopted the position that Iran’s problems are not so much a product of US sanctions and therefore it is not so important who is in the White House. Before Biden’s victory, the hardliners had marshalled their forces to win in next year’s presidential elections and now that may not be such a sure prospect.

Ghalibaf also argued that decisions regarding various economic issues in Iran including the stock exchange and forex, gold and housing markets depend on Iranian institutions, not on “Georgia, Michigan and Arizona [electoral votes]." However, despite such statements, Iran's economy and future prospects depend very much on decisions made in Washington. Knowing this, many Iranians followed the US elections closely and both the foreign currency and stock markets in Tehran reacted to every news about vote counting in the United states.

Ghalibaf went on to say that "any signal to the enemy that presents an image of a weak Iran that needs foreign countries is ruining opportunities. Therefore, the Islamic Consultative Majles (Parliament) believes that we must make their economic and sanctions pressure costly for them with changing what they expect."

"Ruining opportunities" in Ghalibaf's remark appears to be a reference to a statement by President Hassan Rouhani made in a cabinet meeting on November 11. “We will take the opportunity whenever conditions for scrapping sanctions are present…Nobody has the right to ruin opportunities [for that].”

Ghalibaf also made it clear where he stands in terms of the political spectrum in Iran. He quoted Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah who recently said he was happy seeing Trump’s defeat. Ghalibaf added his own twist, saying that this was God’s punishment for someone who acted as though he was god.