In an Iftar address to an audience of his supporters, including members of the Union of Islamic Engineers and supporters of the Khat-e Emam,[1] on October 14, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that he had a connection with God, and promised that Iran would continue to develop nuclear energy, and would not give in to the West's demand to suspend its uranium enrichment "even for one single day."
The parts of Ahmadinejad's address regarding his connection with God were reported by the independent Iranian news agency Iran News, which is active within Iran, on October 15, 2006, under the title "A Different Report by Iran News on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's New Shocking Address at the Iftar of the Engineers Union."
Like Ahmadinejad, other members of Iran's upper echelons have also recently expressed their objections to a suspension of uranium enrichment like that undertaken by the previous president, the reformist Mohammad Khatami. At a meeting with the heads of Iran's ruling authorities, Iran's Supreme Leader 'Ali Khamenei said, "Had we not taken the path we took two years ago, [i.e.] consented to suspend uranium enrichment, perhaps today we would be kicking ourselves, [saying] 'Why didn't we try that path?' But today we are moving ahead [towards our goal], with complete confidence and with absolute control, and [today] no one can claim any longer that we were mistaken in the path we took [i.e. our current refusal to suspend enrichment] in the nuclear issue, because we did try the other path [i.e. consent to suspend enrichment]..."[2]
The reformist daily Aftab-e Yazd reported that Ahmadinejad had said in his address that Iran "must stand firm [in its nuclear policy]; we have one more step, and if we pass that, this [matter] will be attained."[3]
A few days previously, on October 11, 2006, Ahmadinejad had made similar statements on the nuclear issue, in a speech in the city of Shahriyar:"...The enemies are completely paralyzed, and cannot in any way confront the Iranian people. If our people maintain unity and solidarity, they [i.e. the enemies] must expect a great [Iranian] victory, because we have [only] one step remaining before we attain the summit of nuclear technology."[4]
In that speech, Ahmadinejad underlined the West's inability to act: "The enemy will never confront us. An attack on Iran is nonsense."[5]
The following are the main points of the Iran News report of Ahmadinejad's Iftar speech:[6]
The Second Islamic Revolution
"...I told you that the second wave of the [1979 Islamic] Revolution has already begun [with my election to the presidency in 2005], and that it is bigger and more terrible than the first..."[7]
The Connection to God and the Anticipated Muslim Victory Over the Infidels
"On the nuclear issue, I have said to my friends on many occasions, 'Don't worry. They [i.e. the Westerners] are only making noise.' But my friends don't believe [me], and say, 'You are connected to some place!' I always say: 'Now the West is disarmed vis-à-vis Iran [on the nuclear issue], and does not know how to end this matter [with us].' But my friends say: 'You are uttering divine words! Then they will laugh at us!'
"Believe [me], legally speaking, and in the eyes of public opinion, we have absolutely succeeded. I say this out of knowledge. Someone asked me: 'So and so said that you have a connection.' I said: 'Yes, I have.' He asked me: 'Really, you have a connection? With whom?' I answered: 'I have a connection with God,' since God said that the infidels will have no way to harm the believers. Well, [but] only if we are believers, because God said: You [will be] the victors. But the same friends say that Ahmadinejad says strange things.
"If we are [really] believers, God will show us victory, and this miracle. Is it necessary today for a female camel to emerge from the heart of the mountain so that my friends will accept the miracle?[8] Wasn't the [Islamic] Revolution [enough of] a miracle? Wasn't the Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] a miracle?... "
Iran's Nuclear Policy
"They (Westerners) did two ugly things. First, they attacked Lebanon in order to extract concessions from us [i.e. Iran]. Second, they took the [nuclear] issue to the [U.N.] Security Council. Of course, now they are sunk in a quagmire, and don't know what to do with us. We, for our part, did not retreat one millimeter. First, because if we retreat [even] a little, that is, if we agree to suspend [uranium enrichment even] for a single day, they will say that the Iranians retreat under pressure. And second, if we do this, they will tell the entire world that the Iranians have finally stopped their [uranium] enrichment. Didn't we stop the enrichment in the previous round [of talks]? What did we gain by that?...
"I say that now, by the grace of God, we have gone most of the way; be confident that they will not dare to attack us."
Attitude Towards the U.S. and Bush
"... The president of America is like us. That is, he too is inspired... but [his] inspiration is of the satanic kind. Satan gives inspiration to the president of America...
"[With regard to the news that U.S. aircraft carriers have been sent to the Persian Gulf,] I say to you now to let your minds be at ease. If two warships come, let them come... Why did you say nothing two months ago, when 140 of their warships left? Actually, I think that the fact that they are coming means that there is no possibility that anything will happen.
"What is dangerous is if they leave the region; then, it will be clear that they have a plan. That is exactly what I said at the Supreme National Security Council meeting some time ago. [I said,] be certain that the departure of those American warships from the Persian Gulf is the beginning of a bad event. Then [indeed] we saw that they caused the Lebanon war."
Endnotes:
[1] Khat-e Emam is a youth organization that identifies itself as followers of the path of the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
[2] Jomhouri-ye Eslami (Iran), October 11, 2006. Also, Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezai said that "suspension of nuclear activity... during Khatami's time was a great injustice to Iran's right [to nuclear technology]." Parto-y Sokhan (Iran), October 4, 2006.
[3] Aftab-e Yazd (Iran), October 16, 2006.
[4] Fars news agency, October 11, 2006, http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8507190600
[5] Aftab-e Yazd (Iran), October 16, 2006.
[6] Iran News agency, October 15, 2006, http://www.iranews.org/Viewnews.asp?@=40720
[7] See MEMRI Iran's ‘Second Islamic Revolution’: Fulfilled by Election of Conservative President, "Iran's 'Second Islamic Revolution': Fulfilled by Election of Conservative President," June 28, 2006, Iran's ‘Second Islamic Revolution’: Fulfilled by Election of Conservative President . In this report, MEMRI called Ahmadinejad's election the "Second Islamic Revolution."
[8] Ahmadinejad was alluding to the Koranic tradition according to which the prophet Saleh performed a miracle by extracting a female camel from inside a mountain in order to prove to the ancient Arab people of Thamoud the truth of his prophecy (Koran 7:73).
