Iran’s newspapers on Saturday reflected a sense that Iranian politics will be driven at least for the next year by the choice made by American voters. The hardliner Kayhan, thought to be reflecting Khamenei’s thinking, insisted that it made “no difference for Tehran who is going to be at the White House during the next four years.”

The argument flies in the face of experience.  With Biden as his vice-president, President Barack Obama entered Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, easing sanctions and freeing at least $50 billion of Iranian assets frozen abroad. President Donald Trump in contrast withdrew from the deal, imposed draconian sanctions and authorized the killing of Iran’s most significant military commander.

The argument of “no difference” was also stretched by Kayhan devoting five front-page stories to the American presidential election. In a commentary headlined ‘The US election box: Is it a snake or a scorpion in there?’ the paper repeated the insistence from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose office funds the paper, that Trump and Biden were essentially similar.

Kayhan warned that “the reformists are playing with the people’s livelihood by pinning all of their hopes on Joe Biden.” It portrayed the United States at risk of riots and chaos.

The reformist daily Ebtekar also detected the “the failure of democracy in the United States” with Trump undermining its political structure amid claims of election rigging. “The situation is volatile as the supporters of both candidates have taken to the streets,” the paper noted.

Many newspapers highlighted Iranians’ keen interest in the US election and pointed out that Iranians were looking eagerly for signs that the Iranian economy might recover.

The reformist daily Etemad argued that whoever won Iran’s own presidential election in June would want the US to return to the nuclear agreement before any negotiations could begin between Tehran and Washington on other issues. But it noted it was strange that principlists such as lawmaker Rouhollah Izadkhah had said the Iranian parliament (Majles) would block talks with a Biden administration. Etemad saw his comment as odd, given Khamenei had final say on the matter.

Citing a line repeated by Friday prayer imams, centrist daily Arman-e Melli, which is close to the Rouhani administration wrote: "Whoever becomes President in America will be an enemy of the Islamic Republic. We should not pin our hopes on him."

The government-owned newspaper Iran called for realism rather than either optimism or pessimism. In a commentary, Amir Ali Abolfath pointed out that Iran would not be a priority in the White House for at least several months

Abolfath argued that future developments depend not just on what happens in Washington but “to a larger extent…on whether the Islamic Republic is prepared to offer the concessions that the US has been demanding for a long time.”

And this is not going to happen, Kayhan insisted: “The United States will surrender to Iran’s will only if we forget the idea of starting negotiations.”