¡¡TEHRAN, June 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said here Sunday that the Iranians said a "big no" to the United States in the presidential election held on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "As we have already predicted, the election made the Americans feel ashamed and it proved that they were neither good politicians nor good fortune tellers," Kharazi was quoted as saying.

    "We hope that the Americans will wake up and revise their stances toward Iran before it is too late," Kharazi said.

    "The election proved that people have different tastes and take decisions independently, but are committed to the Islamic principles," he added.

    The foreign minister also said the Islamic republic will "proceed with religious-based democracy and will continue to exercise its influence on the region."

    As to Iran's foreign policy after the election, Kharazi said the principles of Iran's foreign policy would not be affected by the new president.

    "The nuclear programs will not undergo any change. We are for detente policy and cooperation with the international community and insist on our principles," Kharazi was quoted as saying.

    Iran on Friday held its ninth presidential election and some 32 million out of 46 million eligible voters cast votes.

    Iran's Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that pragmatist former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad will go to a runoff with 21 percent and 19 percent respectively of the Friday's ballots.

    Under Iran's law, if nobody garners at least 50 percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters will have to go to a runoff held one week later.

    The United States, slamming Iran's election as undemocratic, predicted that there would be a very low turnout on the polling day. Enditem