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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran is number one world power - Ahmadinejad |
| 2008-02-28 |
| PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran was the world's "number one" power, as he launched a bitter new assault on domestic critics he accused of siding with the enemy. "Everybody has understood that Iran is the number one power in the world," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech to families who lost loved ones in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. "Today the name of Iran means a firm punch in the teeth of the powerful and it puts them in their place," added Mr Ahmadinejad, who on Sunday will become the first president of the Islamic republic to visit neighbouring Iraq. Mr Ahmadinejad's comments come amid renewed Western efforts on the UN Security Council to agree a third package of sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear activities. They also came a day after former top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani launched an unprecedented attack on Mr Ahmadinejad's foreign policy, accusing him of using "coarse slogans and grandstanding". "You can see how some people here... try to materialise the plans of the enemies and by showing that Iran is small and the enemy is big," seethed Mr Ahmadinejad. "These are the people who put the enemies of humanity in the place of God," said the deeply religious president. Mr Ahmadinejad once again insisted that Iran was winning the standoff over its atomic programme, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons but Iran says is peaceful. "The Iranian nation is on the verge of the final nuclear victory and no power can stop this nation." "The enemies of the nation and bullying powers do not dare to admit that this nation has won in the nuclear field." Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who this week congratulated Mr Ahmadinejad for his role in Iran's nuclear case, said that Islamic countries do not need US approval to achieve great works. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki meanwhile sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticising what he described as "baseless accusations" by UN Security Council members about the Iranian nuclear drive, the official IRNA news agency reported. Mr Rowhani's speech on Wednesday was extraordinary for its explicit criticism of the president's policies and for its attack on his inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric, which has once again provoked Western condemnation. While Mr Ahmadinejad did not mention Mr Rowhani by name, his address is likely to be seen as a clear message to his opponents that such criticism of his rhetoric is not welcome. Mr Ahmadinejad also told the families of the "martyrs" of the war that their loss was not in vain as the message of the Islamic revolution of 1979 that ousted the pro-US shah was spreading all over the world. "Today the message of your revolution is being heard in South America, East Asia, in the heart of Europe and even in the United States itself," he said. Mr Ahmadinejad said he talked with people everywhere he travelled in the world and "it is like I am in district 17 in Tehran", referring to the low-income area in the south of the Iranian capital where he was giving his speech. "I have been to most parts of the world. I read the news every day. Every day I speak to different figures from different countries and have meetings with them," he commented. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #19 I don't know if they are #1 but they smell like a big pile of #2. |
| Posted by: darrylq 2008-02-28 21:03 |
| #18 It's tough to be #1 from a smoking hole in the ground. Maybe just the first to get a one-way ticket to the earth's core. |
| Posted by: Beldar Thrating4013 2008-02-28 21:03 |
| #17 Nutjob's latest speech: Link at Memri "The Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran are Both Great Divine GiftsÂ… Awarded to the Entire Mankind" "Building a model society and introducing the Islamic Revolution are our nation's missionsÂ… The Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran are both great divine gifts, not only awarded to the Iranian nation, but to the entire mankind. "Yet, we had better say that the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran were the greatest events of the contemporary history, since they marked the continuation of the path laid before the mankind by divine Prophets, next to the appointment of Prophet Muhammad as messenger of Allah and the martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson Imam Hussain." "The Islamic RevolutionÂ… Was a Long Leap towards Mankind's Reaching the Peak of Perfection" "Like those great events, the Islamic Revolution, too, was a long leap towards mankind's reaching the peak of perfectionÂ… The Iranian nation, the practicing Ulema, and the followers of the idea of leadership of the blessed (Wilayah) are shouldering the responsibility of keeping on hoisting the flag of a movement whose nature is the same as the revolutions of divine Prophets. "The Iranian nation also has two heavy responsibilities, one of which is constructing Iran, since the message of a revolution would be heard and welcomed when it would be accompanied by practical models. Such model making would lead to leading the mankind towards the peak of perfection, and assist the world nations in embracing eternal salvation in the Hereafter, by convincing them that Islam is capable of presenting an ideal model for social life. "Our culture and our administrative structure must be reshaped rapidly so that their basis would be the divine laws of Islam so that we would be able to claim that we have reached the status of a model society that can be the witness for the entire mankind." "The Only Perfect School of Thought That Can Lead Human Society towards Blessed Life in This World and Salvation in the Other World is Mohamedan Islam" "By grace of God, such a movement began as of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, despite the entire heavy obstacles and hindrances on its way, which have been removed one after the other, and the movement of the Islamic Revolution aimed at constructing a model society has kept on accelerating ever since then. "Our nation's second important mission is introducing the Islamic Revolution to the entire mankind. Today, the mankind has reached a point of dissatisfaction with the status quo of the social life and is so desperately in pursuit of better lives that the nations' minds are quite ripe for grasping such truths. "Based on such presuppositions, the only perfect school of thought that can lead the human society towards blessed life in this world and salvation in the other world is Mohamedan Islam. "We need to elaborate the divine rules of this school of thought and present to the world nations a model of social life based on it, while atop those who shoulder this responsibility there are the Ulema who gain the divine thoughts from the origin of divine revelations, or from the Prophet and the Infallible Imams." SPIT |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-02-28 20:55 |
| #16 OK, dinnerjacket. You pick any place in the world outside Iran and the US. The US will pick the time - say in about one month. We will meet the Iranian forces with the US forces. One on one. Mano a mano. We'll see who a) shows up firstest with the mostest. b) comes out on top. Heck, we'll even promise not to attack you while you're going to the meeting place, even though we could. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-02-28 16:13 |
| #15 I just hope that his "nuclear victory" doesn't turn into a national suicide vest. Exactly. He wouldn't be the first short dictator who led his country to disaster. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-02-28 13:42 |
| #14 How's that phrase go? "Delusions of Adequacy". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-02-28 13:34 |
| #13 Didn't know insanity could be numbered #1 #2 etc, but yes, he's #1 insane. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-02-28 13:13 |
| #12 Was he wearing one of those big green "We're #1!" foam hand thingies? |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-02-28 12:43 |
| #11 Since Iran is #1, they should be able to dictate to the other countries, right? So Israel should just shut up and die, America should pay jizya or convert to Islam, etc, etc. Man, I wish I were short so I could have delusions of grandeur like Dinnerjacket. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-02-28 12:38 |
| #10 It's true! |
| Posted by: Am MAD Inejad 2008-02-28 12:28 |
| #9 Some snot at the very back of my sinuses, and I think maybe a heart valve, were dislodged when I read this... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-02-28 11:28 |
| #8 Number one asshole, maybe. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-02-28 11:27 |
| #7 I think he means iran is number one world power because there is no homosexuals there. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-02-28 11:24 |
| #6 SNICKER,SNICKER,TEEHEE. I'm sorry. I know you shouldn't laugh at the insane, but I just couldn't help it. |
| Posted by: GK 2008-02-28 10:49 |
| #5 |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-02-28 10:26 |
| #4 I just hope that his "nuclear victory" doesn't turn into a national suicide vest. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-02-28 10:21 |
| #3 Mods: Baghdad Bob photo PLEASE !!!!! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-02-28 10:15 |
| #2 TU, make sure you get enough to share, 'kay? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-02-28 10:06 |
| #1 Whatever he's on, I want some. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-02-28 10:04 |