Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday said that the choice offered to voters in the U.S. presidential election was between "bad and worse", Reuters reported. According to the Iranian president, the harsh exchanges in the debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton pointed to a lack of morality in America. "America claims it has more than 200 years of democracy, and they have had 50 presidential elections, but there is no morality in that country," Rouhani was quoted as having said in a speech which was carried live by state television. "You saw the presidential debates, how they talk..., how they accuse and mock (each other)," Rouhani told a crowd gathered at a stadium during his visit to the central city of Arak. He added that a head of state had asked him during his visit to the United Nations in September about who he preferred between Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. "I said should I prefer bad over worse or worse over bad?" said Rouhani, who did not say to which candidate his descriptions referred. The comments are the latest example of the continued criticism of the United States by Iranian officials. Last month, Rouhani accused the U.S. of caving to pressure by “Zionist groups” and violating the nuclear deal signed between his country and the West. He previously accused Israel , as well as the U.S. Congress and other regional countries of thwarting the implementation of the nuclear deal. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also launched many verbal attacks against the United States, to which he refers as “the Great Satan”. In the past, he has ruled out his country having ties with the United States or “the Zionist regime” – that is, Israel – claiming he had proof that the United States was planning a coup in Iran. (Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
