West supported protests to take revenge, Ahmadinejad says

Aug 27, 2009, 12:12 GMT

   Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West of supporting protests this summer against alleged election fraud because it wanted to retaliate against him and his policies of the past four years, the official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.

   'They have been humiliated in the last four years and, therefore, wanted to take revenge by encouraging continued unrest' after the June 12 presidential election, Ahmadinejad said.

   Iran has accused the West of interfering in Iran's internal affairs by supporting protestors who accused Ahmadinejad, who was re-elected, and the government of election fraud and decried mass arrests of Ahmadinejad critics.

   'Like you have been slapped in the face by the Iranian people in the last three decades, you have also been slapped this time,' Ahmadinejad said Wednesday at the presidential office at an iftar dinner, the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. He was referring to the 30 years since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

   Iran was especially angered by the refusal of European Union leaders to congratulate Ahmadinejad on his re-election although the president himself shrugged it off.

   'Although they [the West] did not act rationally, I still hope they can make amends for their mistake by making a global commitment not to interfere in Iran anymore,' Ahmadinejad said.

   The controversy over the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad has endangered talks between Tehran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany over Iran's nuclear programmes.

   US President Barack Obama declared September to be the deadline for Iran to return to nuclear negotiations, but Tehran has rejected the deadline, and Ahmadinejad said Iran would no longer talk with the West over its nuclear projects but just to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

   Furthermore, Ahmadinejad has rejected threats of more financial sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear programmes, saying Iran was no longer afraid of any sanctions.

   Some countries fear that Iran has been engaged in a secret nuclear weapons programme that could eventually be used against Tehran's archfoe, Israel.

   Iran has categorically denied the charges and said its nuclear projects are for civilian and peaceful purposes.