Iranians' hope for U.S. policy shift dims

The U.S. election campaign aroused enormous interest in Iran - more than any previous foreign vote - and even the official Islamic Republic Broadcasting system aired extensive coverage of the campaign and the results.

But ordinary citizens in Tehran, speaking in the aftermath of the elections, said they were pessimistic about how different the new U.S. president would be.

A supermarket owner in his 50s, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Saeid, pointed to the television set in his shop in northern Tehran that showed Palestinians killed and injured by Israel's offensive in Gaza.

"[Mr. Obama] has not said anything about such a massacre," Saeid said. "How could I count on him to consider my situation as a poor Iranian and suspend trade bans on the aviation industry of my country or to let us have something which [the Americans] do not like?"

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