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The man the West loves to hate
April 25, 2008
By breaking United Nations' rules in resuming Iran's uranium enrichment activities, Ahmadinejad drew the consternation of the United States, in particular, and much of the Western world, in general. While US officials and others speculated the new technology could be used to create nuclear weapons, and that Iran was possibly hiding its true intent, Ahmadinejad insisted the programme sought peaceful uses of nuclear power and asserted Iran's right to pursue it. In 2006, he challenged President Bush to a debate meant to explore Iran's right to enrich uranium, but the White House declined.
In recent years, the United Nations Security Council has imposed heavy punishment on Iran for re-opening its nuclear efforts, but Ahmadinejad remains defiant in the face of stiff economic sanctions. During a visit to the United Nations in 2006, reports from the New York Times and the Washington Post said that he subtly accused the United States of hypocrisy, tainted foreign policy, and misuse of its power. When discussing the 9/11 World Trade Centres attack, he called many aspects of the case into question, including the official death toll and the cause of the buildings' collapse
Image: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani during a press conference at his Baghdad residence on March 2, 2008. Ahmadinejad said that the trip opened a "new page" in relations between the neighbours. It was the first ever visit by an Iranian president to Iraq and aims to boost relations between the two countries which fought a bitter war in the 1980s that killed an estimated one million people.
Photograph: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Why Indian companies must do business in Iran
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