Locked in Mideast wars, battered by sanctions, Iran wary over US election

America's presidential election next week comes just after Iran marks the 45th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis and for many, tensions between Tehran and Washington feel just as high as they did then.Iran remains locked in the Mideast wars roiling the region, with its allies militant groups and fighters of its self-described Axis of Resistance battered as Israel presses its war in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas and its invasion of Lebanon amid devastating attacks against Hezbollah. At the same time, Iran still appears to be assessing damage from Israel's strikes on the Islamic Republic last Saturday in response to two Iranian ballistic missile attacks.Iran's currency, the rial, hovers near record lows against the dollar, battered by international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme of enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.In public spaces, women still openly defy Iran's mandatory law on the headscarf, or hijab, a result of the mass .