Ahmadinejad denounces reporting on alleged assassination attempt (Roundup)

Aug 7, 2010, 11:59 GMT

Berlin - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday denounced international media for their coverage of an alleged assassination attempt against him, state television reported.

'Somebody fired one of those firecrackers which have a colourful smoke as a sign of joy and you witnessed what the foreign media made out of this simple event,' he said in a ceremony marking national reporters' day.

During a trip to the western city of Hamedan in western Iran, a minor explosion led to reports by some Arab media that there had been an assassination attempt against the president. Some Western news agencies also followed the same news line.

Official news agency IRNA dismissed the reports and said a young resident of Hamedan wanted to show his support for the president and 'out of excitement' fired a firecracker 'like in football stadiums.'

IRNA said first the Arab and then Western media 'misused' the harmless incident for their own political purposes.

'The Western media then started a news wave claiming that a hand grenade was exploded, dozens were injured, the president survived the assassination attempt and was taken away from the venue with no news about his whereabouts,' Ahmadinejad said.

'Nothing had happened, it was just a firecracker, nobody even moved from his place and the people continued to show their enthusiasm (towards the president),' he added.

The Ahmadinejad administration accuses foreign media in general and the Western media in particular of having waged a 'soft war' against Iran.

'The media have turned to be the sharpest weapon of the global powers and we are currently facing a widespread media war which is directed against us,' Ahmadinejad said.

'Today the real war is not on the military or political or economic but media front. They (world powers) are bombarding the world with their own news to hide the reality,' the president said.

The foreign press has been drastically limited since it reported allegations of vote fraud and street protests after the June 2009 election that gave Ahmadinejad a disputed second term.

Foreign media are not allowed to directly cover street protests or contact opposition groups, and are only authorized to cover events approved by the Culture Ministry's foreign press department.

Deputy Culture Minister Mohammad-Ali Ramin, who is in charge of both local and foreign media, said last week that Western media would be excluded from the annual Tehran press exhibition in October.

'We will not allow the presence of those Western media which are vain, dishonest and beguiling and consider themselves as the ultimate media sultans of the world,' Ramin said.