Posted on 10/21/2013 11:11:45 PM PDT by cunning_fish
Chants of 'Death to America' have been part of Iranian public life for almost 35 years. But the new wave of politicians in Tehran is trying to change that, write Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat. An attempt by Iran's reformist president Hassan Rouhani to abolish the chant "Death to America" as part of his diplomatic drive to improve relations with the US and the West, has spurred an angry backlash among his country's hardline establishment.
The slogan - "Marg bar Amrika" in Farsi - has rung out on official occasions in Tehran ever since the country's Islamic revolution in 1979, born during the seizure by students of the US embassy and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed.
Beloved by hardliners, it became one of the unifying political messages of the regime and would be broadcast every Friday on national television and be echoed at many mosques after Friday prayers.
A national debate on the appropriateness of the chant erupted last month when reformist prayer leaders at the main Friday afternoon ceremonies in Tehran and other major cities told the congregations to hold their tongues.
Since it no longer fits so easily with the official outlook of a country whose president has telephone chats with President Barack Obama and wants the West to lift economic sanctions in return for nuclear concessions over Iran's nuclear programme, there is a drive by Mr Rouhani and his allies to end its public use.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
35 years... I’d say it was working like a charm. Look at our decline since 1979.
If the West (not Israel) falls for this Hitlerian Munich type agreement, we deserve to become subjects to future Iranian blackmail.
Let's face it, the world knows Iran does not need nuclear power and we know they repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Even now they say they have no intentions of stopping their program so what is the point of negotiations?
Buying time, just like the NORKS did during the Clintoon years. Pathetic.
“Dirka dirka, Death to America. Dirka dirka dirka...”
It’s almost like they’re an Axis of Evil, or something...
So does that mean that Hassan is not building nuclear weapons?
Marg bar Islam!
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