+ GMT Select Your Local Time London GMT Johannesburg Lagos Cairo Accra Mogadishu Abuja Cape Town Free Town Addis Ababa Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Australia Sydney Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Brazil East Brazil West Canada Toronto Canada Pacific China Beijing Cuba Cyprus Denmark Egypt Ethiopia Finland France Germany Ghana Greece Hon Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kenya Korea (Rep. of) Kuwait Lebanon Liberia Libya Luxemburg Malaysia Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Mexico City Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Paraguay Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Moscow Russia Vladivostok Saudi Arabia Senegal Sierra Leone Singapore South Africa Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA Washington USA San Francisco USA New York USA Hawaii Venezuela Yemen Zaire Kinshasa Zaire Katanga Zambia Zimbabwe STO
[Pacific Sighting] See Makkah Clock
EsinIslam
Web
Site Explore
Exclusive Search
Broadcasters
Helping Shops
Home | Explore | Broadcasters | Media | Donations | About Us | Contact | Fatwa | Our Sheikh
Save
Ahmadinejad Tells Obama Not to Repeat Bush’s Mistakes, Considering Downgrading Ties with Britain
26 June 2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Barack Obama on Thursday not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs after the U.S. president said he was "appalled and outraged" by post-election violence in the Islamic state. Iran's security crackdown after its June 12 presidential election, in which Ahmadinejad won by a landslide according to official results, has led Obama to ramp up his previously muted criticism of Tehran. "Mr. Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously [former U.S. President George W.] Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Do you want to speak [with Iran] with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about," said Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad's government blamed Britain and the United States for fomenting the violence. Obama toughened his criticism of Iran on Tuesday for its crackdown on protesters demonstrating against the official election results, declaring scenes of death in Tehran "heartbreaking." "In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to the peaceful pursuit of justice," Obama said in Washington. But the U.S. president declined to spell out any potential consequences for Tehran of the crackdown, and said there was still "a path available" to Iran in which it could operate within the international community. Ahmadinejad said, according to Fars: "What way of talking is this to the Iranian nation ... I tell them that all those people who voted and all the Iranian nation will stand against them." He was speaking in the port town of Assaluyeh, where he was inaugurating a petrochemical plant. The Iranian leader added: "A country which talks of change and cooperation, why did it fall into this trap. The Iranian nation sees and hears this talk and will make its decision... I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it." Iran Considering Downgrading Ties with Britain Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran is considering whether to downgrade ties with Britain, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday, amid mounting tensions over the presidential election. "We are examining it," he said, the agency reported.
His comments came after Britain and Iran expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, with Tehran accusing London of meddling in the post-election tumult. Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said that some people with British passports "had role in the riots" which followed the June 12 election. He told the Fars news agency that members of "known counter-revolutionary groups" who entered the country in the run-up to the vote had been arrested in recent riots. "One of the detainees collected information needed by the enemies under the guise of a reporter," he said. "Britain was one of the countries which fuelled the situation by strong propaganda and some undiplomatic measures." Meanwhile, Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said that rioters involved in post-election violence were funded by the CIA and the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen of Iran. "Many rioters are in touch with the Unites States, the CIA and the Monafeghin (People's Mujahedeen) and are being funded by their money," Mahsouli was quoted as saying. He also accused "the Zionist occupying regime" of being among the masterminds of the unrest in Iran.
EsinIslam.Com
Sign In Password