US 'propaganda war' blasted
2006-05-12 16:21
Jakarta - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit back on Friday at what he called a United States propaganda war, keeping up his firebrand attacks on the West a day after saying that Israel would one day vanish.
Ahmadinejad, who had become the public face of the Islamic republic in its quest for nuclear know-how that critics said was a bid to build the atom bomb, said his nation was a great force that would not bow to the US and its allies.
He said: "They perhaps are using propaganda to start a war of ideology, but they actually know that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a great force.
"They actually are carrying out propaganda with a sour face and are using strong words to intimidate our people, but I'm telling you the people of Iran are not afraid of them."
Ahmadinejad attends Friday prayers
Asked if Iran was preparing for a potential military strike, he replied: "We deem that this matter is far from the possibility of taking place."
Ahmadinejad later attended Friday prayers at Jakarta's Istiqlal mosque, the largest in Indonesia, where he was mobbed by a crowd of thousands eager to catch a glimpse of him and shake his hand.
The congregation chanted "God is great!" after he was introduced by Indonesia's religious affairs minister.
He said: "Indonesian people are people of faith and I am honoured to have come here."
Tehran's nuclear ambitions
Ahmadinejad's visit came amid a backdrop of frantic international diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The US and European Union troika of Britain, France and Germany were pushing for a binding UN resolution that could clear the way for economic sanctions, possible escalating toward military action.
However, they were meeting resistance from China and Russia, which both had close economic ties with Iran.
On Wednesday Washington, which had so far failed to win support for UN sanctions against Tehran, said it would give its European partners "a couple of weeks" to draft a fresh approach.
Iran govt 'will last for long'
On Thursday, the Iranian leader ramped up his rhetoric against the West, calling Israel a "cancer" that would "one day vanish".
He said: "We believe that a government such as this one will not last long because it is built on tyranny and tyranny will not last long.
"The idea of going to war is a joke, it's like a joke. Why should there be a war? They do know that any mistreatment of the Iranian people will actually cause more losses to them than for us."
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who met with Ahmadinejad on Wednesday, backed Tehran's claim that its nuclear programme was peaceful.
Ahmadinejad was due to fly to Bali on Friday afternoon to attend a summit of the Developing-8 (D-8) - group of large Muslim countries on Saturday.
- AFP