Iran’s top leader strongly backed embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, praising him for “standing up” to the West and urging him to plan for a second four-year term, state media reported on Sunday.
The comments by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei represent unusually glowing praise of the president, who upon his election in 2005 sparked a confrontation with the West by resuming uranium enrichment and vociferously denouncing Israel.
It is the first time that Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, has expressed such strong support for any other Iranian politician.
Ahmadinejad is facing a firestorm of criticism at home, particularly over his handling of the economy. He won office on a campaign promise to distribute Iran’s oil wealth to each family. But Iran increasingly faces skyrocketing food and fuel prices, unemployment and inflation.
The current government has helped “revive” the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution that transformed Iran into a strict theocracy, state TV quoted Khamenei as saying during a meeting with Ahmadinejad and his Cabinet on Saturday.
“Some bullying and brazen countries and their worthless followers wanted to impose their will on the Iranian nation, but ... the president and the government have stood up to their excessive demands and moved forward,” he said.
Khamenei also praised Ahmadinejad for “blocking the infiltration of a Westernization trend in the government,” an apparent criticism of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami who sought closer ties with the West.
The recent criticism of the president has focused on the economy, which has foundered amid global food shortages as well as sanctions imposed by the West.
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