Iran hits hard at opposition leader for ripping Ahmadinejad’s speech

Iran Focus: Tehran, Oct. 30 – Iran’s hard-line media launched a virulent attack on opposition leader Maryam Rajavi for her statement condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech earlier this week. Iran Focus

Tehran, Oct. 30 – Iran’s hard-line media launched a virulent attack on opposition leader Maryam Rajavi for her statement condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech earlier this week.

“Maryam Rajavi has written a letter to the leaders of the European Union, saying that Iran is the enemy of peace, democracy and humanity”, wrote the hard-line daily Kayhan. “Rajavi is using the recent event to curry favour with the Europeans”.

The state-run Mehr News Agency, which is close to the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote that “in the wake of President Ahmadinejad’s speech at the World Without Zionism conference, Maryam Rajavi claimed that the Monafeqin [the Iranian government’s term for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK) opposition group”> is the key to rid the Middle East of terrorism”.

Another news agency controlled by Iran’s ultra-Islamists, Fars News Agency, carried an equally severe attack on Rajavi, who has been nominated by the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran as interim president for the transitional period.

Western news agencies reported on Saturday that Rajavi had lauded the United Nations Security Council for condemning the “repugnant remarks by the mullahs’ President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”. Earlier, she had condemned Ahmadinejad’s speech in its entirety, saying that his statement “clearly contradicted the United Nations’ Charter and international law” and was “an unacceptable incitement to war of religions and civilisations”.

“As long as the clerical regime is in power, it would not abandon the export of terrorism and fundamentalism as well as enmity to peace and tranquillity”, Rajavi said.

“I think this is significant coming from the Iranian opposition, because Tehran has been trying hard in the past few days to say that Ahmadinejad was speaking for all Iranians”, said Abdullah Haddad, a political analyst based in Dubai.

Rajavi said on Saturday that Ahmadinejad’s ascendance to power in Iran was a “declaration of war on the international community” by Iran’s hard-line Islamist rulers.