Iran to Remain on US ‘Hit List’ under Biden: American Author

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An American author and political scientist said the US foreign policy would not change towards Iran if Joe Biden wins the election, noting that the Islamic Republic will remain on Washington’s ‘hit list’ under the Democratic candidate.

 “Under Biden's National Security State, Iran will remain on the 'hit' list (regime change), but with an overt threat of military intervention reduced. Biden is a neo-conservative hawk (like H. Clinton) but as was true of Obama, is likely to use the other instruments of US power (economic, diplomatic) to move Iran in a different direction,” Beau Grosscup, California State University Professor Emeritus of Political Science, told Tasnim in an interview.

Following is the full text of the interview.

Tasnim: The election is less than one week away and early voting is already underway in many states, with over 50 million ballots cast. Local polls are currently pointing to the potential for a landslide Biden victory. What do you think? Who do you think and hope will win the 2020 presidential election?

Grosscup: A Biden landslide will occur in the popular vote much like it did for Clinton in 2016 especially since it does appear he will win the 'independent' voters. The question is whether Biden can win the Electoral College (a dinosaur process left from the Founding Fathers to prevent the common people from selecting the President). To do so, he has to take some of the 'battleground states' of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Trump narrowly won in 2016, and keep all the other states Clinton won. I hope anyone but Donald Trump wins this election.

Tasnim: President Trump continued his assault on the integrity of the US elections in the final segment of the first presidential debate, extending argument against mail voting and saying it was ripe for fraud and suggesting mail ballots may be "manipulated." "This is going to be a fraud like you've never seen," he said. Do you think there will be a peaceful transfer of power?

​Grosscup: Because Donald Trump is an egotistical, narcissistic mentally unstable man it is hard to predict what he will do. He also is facing many legal problems some of which could land him in prison, thus for both reasons he will attempt to cling to power. The unpredictable element is how well the normal institutions responsible for the transfer of power and the people in them respond to any of his efforts to manipulate the system/vote/courts to his advantage. An overwhelming vote for Biden will go a long way in determining not how Trump will act, but how the normal processes is managed.

Tasnim: Do you think the potential election of Biden as the new president will change the US foreign policy on Iran?

​Grosscup: Under Biden's National Security State, Iran will remain on the 'hit' list (regime change), but with an overt threat of military intervention reduced. Biden is a neo-conservative hawk (like H. Clinton) but as was true of Obama, is likely to use the other instruments of US power (economic, diplomatic) to move Iran in a different direction. He is more likely to be in concert with the NATO allies (other than Turkey) as to any policy towards Iran. Of course, he will also be very pro-Israel and anti-Hezbollah.