Iran’s Mojtaba Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, put out a statement yesterday, the core of which was posted separately on social media. “If there are still those who entertain the slightest hope that the hegemonic system may change behavior or shifts in its political parties may bring about change, or that by making concessions to the US, they can persuade it to abandon its hostility, they’re gravely mistaken.” That quote, only one sentence from the two page statement, was posted separately to capture attention both inside and outside Iran. It encapsulates what is to be taken as the official Iranian evaluation of the results of Tuesday’s election, regardless of what others in Iran may say.

Among other things, Khamenei’s statement is an indictment of the US for its crimes of oppression against Iran going back to the 1953 coup, which it says the US orchestrated “to ensure their ability to continually plunder Iran’s national resources and wealth, particularly its oil.” In all the actions that the U.S. has taken against Iran since, its “arrogant leaders” and “their minions have consistently sought to impose their domination on Iran and force it into submission,” Khamenei says. “In their latest version of this coercion, they have even discarded all deceptive international pretenses, brazenly pursuing their goal of fragmenting the country, subjugating the nation, collapsing the political system, and destroying Iran’s noble, ancient civilization.”