Barack Obama made an angry personal attack on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday, saying claims by Iran’s president that the United States carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks to prop up Israel were “hateful, offensive and inexcusable”.
Obama also used an interview with BBC Persian TV to make a direct appeal to the people of Iran, defending sanctions and urging them to believe that the US wants a better relationship with the Islamic republic, repeating that it is only possible if the regime complies with international demands over its nuclear programme.
Ahmadinejad’s remarks to the UN general assembly on Thursday prompted widespread outrage and a walkout by diplomats from the US, Britain and many other countries. The Iranian president said that one “theory” of what happened in September 2001 was that “the US government orchestrated the attack in order to save the Zionist regime in the Middle East”.
Obama described the comments as “outrageous and disgusting”, adding: “Particularly for him [Ahmadinejad] to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of Ground Zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation, for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable.”
Fact-finding committee?
But an unrepentant Ahmadinejad returned to the theme again on Friday, calling on the UN to set up a commission to study the attacks, for which al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. “I did not pass judgement, but don’t you feel that the time has come to have a fact-finding committee,” he asked during a news conference in New York.
Obama said that Ahmadinejad’s stance “stands in contrast to the reaction of the Iranian people when there were candlelight vigils and a natural sense of shared humanity and sympathy. It shows once again the difference between how the Iranian leadership and this regime operate and how the vast majority of the Iranian people who are respectful and thoughtful think about these issues.”
Making that distinction was the main point of his interview, which was broadcast on PTV with a translation into Persian, and was likely to be seen by millions of Iranians who watch it despite official jamming. It was an extraordinary scoop for the London-based satellite channel, which was set up in 2008 and enjoys far greater credibility than the Persian service of the Voice of America.
US officials had already lambasted Ahmadinejad’s remarks as “abhorrent and delusional”, but Obama’s furious public riposte is likely to have a global resonance.
The president said that the point of the sanctions imposed by the US, the UN and the EU was to force the regime to allay concerns about the purpose of its nuclear programme. For Tehran it was “more important to defy the international community and engage in a covert nuclear weapons programme than to make sure that people are prospering”, he argued.
Understanding, respect
Obama repeated the offer he made shortly after taking office in 2009. “We are willing to reach out with an open hand to the Iranian government and the Iranian people because we believe that there’s nothing inevitable that should cause Iran and the United States to be enemies. There’s a history there that is difficult. But it can be bridged with mutual understanding, mutual respect, and we want to see the people of Iran ultimately succeed.”
At his press conference Ahmadinejad also lashed out at the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an overreaction to 9/11. The Americans should “not occupy the entire Middle East, bomb wedding parties, annihilate an entire village, just because one terrorist is hiding there,” he said.
Obama conspicuously did not talk of a military option for dealing with Iran. “I don’t take war lightly,” he told PTV. “I was opposed to the war in Iraq. I am somebody who’s interested in resolving issues diplomatically.” He also emphasised that the US was acting with wide international support though he refused to say whether he would stop Israel if it decided to attack Iran.
“Understandably, Israel is very concerned when the president of a country, a large country near them, states that they should be wiped off the face of the earth.”
The president praised the “courage” of Iranians in the unrest that followed last year’s disputed elections, saying: “We have no interest in meddling, in the rights of people that choose their own government, but we will speak out forcefully when we see governments abusing and oppressing their own people.” The Iranian government had “delegitimised itself in ways that continue to reverberate around the world.”
The White House said it hoped to encourage debate in Iran on the speech. “We will, to amplify the president’s messages, … be blogging it, Tweeting it, posting on Youtube and, again, ensuring that we are doing everything that we can to disseminate the president’s words,” an administration official said. – guardian.co.uk