IRAN: Friday prayer leader warns Obama, gloats over U.S. troubles
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Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami (not to be confused with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist) told the faithful in Tehran today that ‘Bank of America is going to be bankrupt.’
One after another, he said, ‘American banks are going bankrupt, and God willing, the United States’ system of capitalism will collapse entirely.’
As for Iran’s economic problems, ‘look at Europe and the U.S. They also have lots of problems. The critics of the government of Iran can criticize, but it is not fair to show everything as gloomy and dark or exaggerate domestic problems.’
He reiterated Iranian officials’ warnings to the Obama administration against pursuing the same strategy as the Bush administration regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
President ‘Obama came to power with the slogan of ‘change,’ ‘ Khatami said.
‘By deceiving the public opinion of the U.S., he got huge votes,’ he said. ‘But his last two weeks’ stances show that he is repeating the mistakes of [George W.] Bush and is talking of sanctions against Iran.
‘If you [Obama] are telling the truth ... do real change and stop your government from being as before, arrogant and imperialist,’ he said.
He said Iranians should be grateful for the country’s accomplishments, including the launch into orbit this week of a domestically produced satellite that has ‘baffled and bewildered the world.’
Iranians, he said, should also be proud of their freedoms ahead of the presidential election in June. During the previous U.S.-supported monarchy ‘Iran was never even one single day independent. The elections were theatrical and officials were on the payroll of the U.S. or Great Britain. Now you people have got your independence and freedom and can go vote for your favorite presidential candidate.’
He predicted millions would take to the streets Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the revolution that toppled the shah, even though ‘I know the Western media will write only thousands of people [turned out], to humiliate and belittle the massive rallies of people.’
He called on Iranians to donate funds to help in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, badly damaged during the recent Israeli offensive against Hamas. ‘The world should know as long as this regime of Israel is in power, there is no hope,’ he said. ‘Freedom-loving people should call for a trial of the Israeli officials in international war crimes court, and television stations around the world, if they are freedom lovers, should show the faces of Israeli war criminals before they escape and go underground.’
-- Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran