Iran: Condition "Uh Oh" - Rafsanjani Running for President

DirectorBlue's Weblog ^ | 4/25/2005 | directorblue

[directorblue]

The "Voice of Bahrain" reports that Iranian cleric Rafsanjani intends to run for president of Iran.

"Powerful Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared yesterday he was set to stand again for president in the June 17 election and challenge a field of candidates so far dominated by hardliners.

'The issue of the presidency is my current preoccupation and although I would like somebody else to take this responsibility, I think I must take this bitter medicine,' the charismatic cleric was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency.

Rafsanjani has been seen as the leading contender in the race to replace incumbent reformist Mohammad Khatami, who is nearing the end of his second consecutive term in office, and a string of recent informal opinion polls have put him ahead of his potential rivals by a wide margin."

If this weren't so terrifying, it would almost be funny. Rafsanjani, of course, is the stable, seasoned Mullah who stated (just after 9/11, no less) that Muslims should use nuclear weapons against Israel. And, not to worry, Rafsanjani is perfectly willing to sacrifice millions of Palestinian men, women and children, too... so long as the evil Jews are destroyed...

[secretagent]

Rafsanjani did talk of a nuclear war with Israel, but never quite called for initiating one.

Still sounds like a whackjob Islamist, though. I fear them more than the commies, who don't have the reward of an afterlife paradise for starting a nuke war.

[directorblue]

Well, the Iran Press Service headline says otherwise:

RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL

' ' TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only". "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran. Analysts said not only Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s speech was the strongest against Israel, but also this is the first time that a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic openly suggests the use of nuclear weapon against the Jewish State... ' '

[secretagent]

Well, the Iran Press Service headline says otherwise

The headline doesn't specify defensive or offensive use of nukes, and in the article Rafsanjani talks of a "stalemate'".