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Iranian government strikes back at Bush speech
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader on Thursday hit back at U.S. President George W. Bush's accusations against the Islamic state and said he would fail like his four predecessors to topple Tehran's clerical leadership.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran, because of defending the rights of the oppressed and confronting oppressors, is being attacked by the global tyrants," state media quoted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.
"Bush is the fifth U.S. president to want to uproot the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic," he told university students.
"But he will be as successful as Jimmy Carter, (Ronald) Reagan, (George) Bush senior and (Bill) Clinton," he added, referring to the five previous U.S. presidents who have held office since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, was responding to Bush's State of the Union address on Wednesday in which he called Iran the "world's primary state sponsor of terror" and again accused it of seeking to build atomic weapons.
Iran denies both charges and accuses U.S. officials of waging psychological war against Tehran. Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980 after Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 52 hostages for 444 days.
SEVEN-HEADED DRAGON
Comparing the United states to "one of the heads of a seven-headed dragon", Khamenei said Bush had been put in the White House by "Zionist and non-Zionist capitalists to serve their interests."
And in an apparent reference to Iran's nuclear programme, he said: "The Iranian nation's achievements and developments are surprising in many fields and have attracted the attention of the world."
Arms experts say Iran is close to mastering the technology required to make atomic weapons. Iran says it has no intention of making nuclear bombs and has frozen key atomic work like uranium enrichment and entered negotiations with the European Union over its nuclear programme.
Earlier on Thursday, Iran's Foreign Ministry described Bush's accusations against Iran as baseless.
"These claims have no basis," the official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
"Americans are ignoring the established democracy in Iran since the (1979 Islamic) revolution."
Bush's remarks enraged Iran's conservative state-controlled media. State television accused Bush of trying to capture Middle East oil under the pretext of promoting democracy in the region.
"Why is Bush only interested in promoting democracy in oil-rich regions?" asked one radio commentator.
Showing pictures of civilians killed in neighbouring Iraq, state television demanded Washington rethink policies which it said were creating anger in the Middle East.
"Middle Easterners have experienced America's support for democracy. They do not believe in American-style democracy," it said.
SOURCE
Reuters, "Iran's Supreme Leader hits back at Bush speech", 3 February 2005.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7531597
FURTHER READING
The Book of Revelations, Christian Bible:-
"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
crowns upon his heads." (Rev 12:3)
The Insider - Bible Prophecy Predicts Globalization
http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0304
"The Insider" mailing list article, 04 February 2005.
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