The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani has said that his country favors Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain in the U.S. presidential election, YnetNews.com has reported. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also indicated earlier that he’d prefer Obama to win the election.

“We are leaning more in favor of Barack Obama because he is more flexible and rational, even though we know American policy will not change that much,” Larijani said.

The Boston Globe reported in September that President Ahmadinejad stated his preference for Obama while in New York.

“The American government 28 years ago decided on its own to cut its ties with Iran…We do prefer to have relations, whereas one of the candidates in this election would prefer that,” he said.

Obama has stated his willingness to meet with the president of Iran and the leadership of other countries hostile to the U.S., which McCain has criticized him for during the campaign.

Iran is listed by the United States State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism and has been accused by the Bush Administration of supporting militias in Iraq and trying to build nuclear weapons. Neither candidate has ruled out the use of force to prevent Iran from obtaining such weapons.

By Ryan Mauro