NCRI – Saudis fumed Friday that mullahs’ president Ahmadinejad marred a summit dedicated to showing Islam’s moderate face by calling for Israel to be moved to Europe,
Even some of Ahmadinejad’s allies in Iran were growing disillusioned, fearing he has hurt the country with his wild rhetoric. Rival factions within the regime also called on the ruling clerics to reel him in.
"The president has to choose his words carefully. He can convey his message to the world in better language tone," Hamid Reza Taraqi, a leader of a hard-line party, the Islamic Coalition Society, told The Associated Press.
The United States, Israel, Europe and Iranian ally Russia condemned Ahmadinejad over his remarks about Israel, made Thursday on the sidelines of the Mecca, Saudi Arabia, summit of more than 50 Islamic nations intending to show a Muslim front against terrorism.
Hours before the participants issued the summit’s centerpiece ââ¬â the Mecca Declaration, promising to stamp out extremist thought ââ¬â Ahmadinejad spoke at a press conference, casting doubt on whether the Holocaust took place and suggesting Europe give land for a Jewish state if it felt guilty about it.
"Let’s give some land to the Zionists in Europe or in Germany or Austria," he said. "They faced injustice in Europe, so why do the repercussions fall on the Palestinians?"
Privately, Saudi officials were furious Friday. Three senior Saudi officials who spoke to The Associated Press complained that the comments completely contradicted and diverted attention from the message of tolerance the summit was trying to project.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the kingdom’s often stormy ties with Tehran.
Saudi newspapers ran excerpts of Ahmadinejad’s news conference where he praised the summit ââ¬â but dropped the references to Israel. The comments also did not appear in Iranian newspapers, though the state news agency reported them at the time.
One Saudi official, visibly angry, compared Ahmadinejad to Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, whose renegade statements frequently infuriated other Arab leaders.
"The Iranian president seems to have lost his direction," said Gilan al-Ghamidi, a prominent commentator in Saudi media. "Iran should be logical if it wants to receive the support of the world. The president didn’t score any points. He lost points."
The flap comes at a sensitive time for mullahs. The United States accuses Iranian regime of seeking to develop nuclear weapons and is pressing to have it referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over the program.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Friday the world was losing patience with Iran regime in the drawn-out negotiations.
He said he hopes outstanding nuclear issues with mullahs will be clarified by the time he presents his next report in March because "the international community is losing patience with the nature of that program."
"The ball is in Iran’s court. It is up to Iran to show the kind of transparency they need to show," ElBaradei told reporters in Oslo, Norway.
The flare-up further strains Ahmadinejad’s ties with conservatives, who already have complained that he fails to work with them on domestic issues.
The parliament, which is dominated by supporters of hard-line clerical regime, has given Ahmadinejad an unprecedented slap already, rejecting three of his candidates for the key post of oil minister because he did not consult with lawmakers and the candidates were unqualified.
