Ahmadinejad Calls for Face-to-Face Showdown With Obama at United Nations
TEHRAN, Iran — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed on Monday a face-to-face
debate with President Barack Obama at the United Nations if he is re-elected
next month as Iran's president.
But he balanced the offer with a sharp rebuke to Washington and its allies
over Iran's nuclear program. He reiterated that Iran would never abandon its
advances in uranium enrichment in exchange for offers of easing sanctions
or other economic incentives.
The nuclear issue "is closed," he told a news conference.
Obama has urged a "serious process of engagement" after Iran's elections in
an effort to end a nearly 30-year diplomatic chill. However last week, the
American leader said the U.S. was prepared to seek deeper international
sanctions against Tehran if it did not respond positively to the attempts to
open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama set a year-end deadline for
Iran to show it wanted to engage with Washington.
The tough talk on nuclear negotiations following Iran's test last week of a
long-range missile appear aimed at burnishing Ahmadinejad's hard-line
credentials in the election campaign against another conservative and two
pro-reform candidates.
His offer of to debate Obama could also be campaign posturing before the
June 12 vote. But it does put Ahmadinejad on record as supporting a
potentially groundbreaking encounter following Obama's offer for dialogue.
Ahmadinejad said that, if re-elected, he would be open to "debate global
issues as well as world peace and security" during the U.N. General Assembly
in September.
There was no immediate reaction from Washington.
Ahmadinejad has often denounced the West for trying to pressure Iran to give
up it uranium enrichment program, a process that can produce fuel for both
nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Tehran insists it is only to fuel
peaceful reactors, but the West worries could lead to nuclear weapons
development.
His latest comments appear to be part of a campaign strategy to portray
himself as the only candidate capable to defending Iran's nuclear technology.
Last week, he accused his reformist predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, of
bringing "humiliation" on Iran by agreeing to suspend uranium enrichment
from 2003-5 as a confidence-building measure with the West.
That also served as a direct shot at Ahmadinejad's main reformist challenger
, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is backed by Khatami.
Ahmadinejad also faces another hard-liner, former Revolutionary Guard
commander Mohsen Rezaei, and a moderate, former parliament speaker Mahdi
Karroubi, in the four-way race.
The campaign took a bitter turn over the weekend when reformists accused
Ahmadinejad's supporters in the Islamic regime of blocking the popular
social networking site Facebook, which has become an important tool to
mobilize Iran's crucial youth vote.
More than half Iran's population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution
and young voters represent a huge potential bloc for pro-reform candidates.
Ahmadinejad sidestepped questions about whether authorities ordered a
Facebook block late last week. But he said he believed "in maximum freedom
of expression."
"There are many Web sites active in the world that can be accessed in Iran.
Many Web sites are against the government," he said, adding that officials "
don't need to shut any sites shut down."
But Iran has cut off access to many blogs and Web sites critical of the
Islamic regime and its ruling clerics. Media groups and others have strongly
criticized Iran's clampdown on the web.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president and a top adviser to Karoubi's
campaign, called the Facebook block "painful news for young and educated
Iranians."
"(Ruling authorities) would only like their voice heard," he wrote in an e-
mailed protest, claiming his own Facebook site had attracted more than 3,000
followers. "Any other voice (for them) is intolerable."
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