Dissident cleric: Ahmadinejad nuclear policy is harming Iran
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri: Deal with the enemy with wisdom, don't provoke it.
By The Associated PressIran's most senior dissident cleric criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his nuclear diplomacy, saying it has harmed Iran, according to comments released Monday.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri made his comments at a time when even conservatives have said Ahmadinejad has concentrated too much on fiery, anti-U.S. speeches and not enough on the economy.
But Montazeri, 85, expressed support for Iran's nuclear program, asserting that Iranians have rights beyond access to nuclear power like the rights to justice and well-being.
"Is this our only definite right?" he asked regarding nuclear power. "Don't we have other rights?" he said, according to a copy of his comments made available to The Associated Press Monday.
"One has to deal with the enemy with wisdom, not provoke it," the cleric said of Iran's nuclear diplomacy. "This (provocation) only creates problems for the country," he told a group of reformists and opponents of Ahmadinejad Friday in Qom, a holy city 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital Tehran.
Prices of fruit, vegetables and food staples have skyrocketed since the United Nations Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Iran in December for defying a resolution demanding that it halt uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material to fuel nuclear reactors or provide fuel for bombs.
"Some countries don't have oil and gas. Yet, they run their country and stand on their own. We have so much oil and gas but make useless expenditures work for others and don't think of our own people's problems and the price of basic commodities go higher and higher every day," Montazeri said.
Montazeri appeared to be referring to Ahmadinejad's foreign trips, the latest of which was to Latin America, and to Iranian financial aid to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian foreign minister for the Hamas-led government said last November while on a visit to Iran that it had given his government more than $120 million over the previous year.
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I wished the Iranians would have handled this themselves too, but I think it's too late. You know, I've been urging them to curb Ahmadinejad for at least 1.5 years and he has been getting stronger and stronger. Now I'm telling Israel, if they rely too much on America to handle Iran, they'll really get their arm twisted at peace negotiations. But maybe, Rice has already told Israel to stand down on this one. The next two years are going to be just awful. Hope Israel doesn't get bombed by Iran and I hope we catch the cells. Also, I hope you're not into cultural relativism because most of the dead will be Iranians if the Iranians don't just give it up and put the Militant Islamists back in the prisons. The nuclear program is not for peace. It's to blow us to pieces if we try to remain the good ole US of A! Granada, Panama et. al. Democrats have to do this stuff too! That's why Chavez feels free to say "Go to Hell!" Hopefully, Bush got the rest of the Major Players in on this! Otherwise???
There is quite a bit of dissent in Iran over Ahmadinejad's policies and statements. There is abundant reason to think that Ahmadinejad doesn't understand nuclear technology, There is also an understanding by those in the Iranian nuclear program that Ahmadinejad has screwed up with his bellicose statements and defiant attitude. Just a year and a half ago, the Iranian nuclear authorities and the IAEA were working together quite well. Then came the push by the US and Israel to drum up a war, and Ahmadinejad's counter saber rattling. I think that Mr. Ahmadinejad's days as President are coming to an end. He has failed to achieve what he was elected to do, which was to improve the lives of Iran's populist poor. He has managed to alienate the intellectuals, business men, and students. He also has complicated everything for just about everyone with his attempts to draw attention away from his failure to produce. Gasoline rationing will end his already limited authority and power.
Ahmadinejad is harming the Iranians. I hope Khameini is listening as well. All the fiery rhetoric won't feed his people or keep the brightest and best in Iran. They are leaving in droves for better lives abroad. Why give Hamas 120 million? Are they crazy? What good has it accomplished? Talk about taking a progressive country back to the stone ages, what an accomplishment.
you can join the "opposition" in Iran. So you will not reach 86, so what?