TEHRAN — In the past, Iranians looking to mock the United States would burn cardboard effigies of Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty. But in recent months, as the American presidential election took a series of bizarre turns, Iranians seeking to make fun of the “Great Satan” have ditched the arts and crafts and simply switched on their TV sets.

Iran’s state television, a bastion of conservative ideologues, for once interrupted its regular programing about the “murders and crimes committed” by the United States and broadcast all three debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump — live.

In a country that tightly controls information about the United States and depictions of Western democracy generally, the decision to show the debates was unprecedented but by no means inexplicable: The presidential campaign shows the United States political system in such a poor light, hard-liners evidently want it to speak for itself.

“We only need to sit back and let these candidates show themselves how idiotic they are,” said Hamidreza Taraghi, a conservative analyst and a regular guest on state television. “The best way for us to prove that the U.S. government is corrupt and hideous is by showing these people live on our TV.”