Yesterday I noticed on the Al Jazeera website that the speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, had said, "We are leaning more in favour of Barack Obama because he is more flexible and rational [than rival John McCain], even though we know American policy will not change that much," an endorsement that would most likely end up in the same category as the Hamas and al-Qaida "endorsements" of Obama and McCain. You can see my post on it here:

Next Spin Cycle: Iran 'Prefers' Obama Presidency

I've been watching the story with interest, primarily because I wanted to see how long it would take for it to enter into the campaign. The US press still hasn't picked up on it, as far as I can tell, but it has hit the British press now, and there is currently a story up at the UK's top online news site, The Guardian:

A top Iranian official has said Barack Obama is the favoured candidate of Tehran, calling him more "rational" than John McCain in remarks that could be used against the Democratic US presidential hopeful.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, told reporters yesterday his government was "leaning more in favour of Barack Obama because he is more flexible and rational, even though we know American policy [towards Iran] will not change that much".

Larijani, an ally of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the supreme Iranian leader, served until last year as his country's chief negotiator in talks to dismantle Tehran's nuclear programme. With the Iranian election looming next year, he is considered a potential opponent of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The author goes on to point out the potential attack line for the McCain campaign:

Larijani's remarks could provide ammunition for the McCain campaign to attack Obama before Americans go to the polls on November 4.

Republicans often condemn Obama for signalling he would conduct diplomacy with Iran without setting conditions in advance. The notion that Tehran prefers the Democrat could bolster McCain's case for tough talk against the regime.

One counterpoint that can be made, though, is that Bush, McCain and the Republicans have singled out Ahmadinejad as the embodiment of evil, and that this line endorsing Obama was made by Ahmadinejad's rival in parliament.

It will be interesting to see where this goes, if it goes anywhere at all.

Here's a photo of Larijani, the possible replacement for Ahmadinejad in next year's elections: