Ahmadinejad: Iran and America Should End 40-Year Confrontation

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said regarding the possibility of his disqualification in the presidential election that he has not yet “taken a stance” on this matter. In response to statements by Haddad Adel about the certainty of his disqualification, Ahmadinejad called him a “hand-kisser of Farah Pahlavi.”

The former head of the ninth and tenth governments responded in an interview with the English-language section of Turkey’s “TRT” network to questions about issues such as his political future and relations between the Islamic Republic and America.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in this interview whose Persian translation was published on his official media outlet yesterday, Saturday, the second of Esfand, rejected claims about his return to the political scene, arguing that he has never left it.

In response to a question about the possibility of running in the presidential election and his disqualification by the Guardian Council as in 2017, Ahmadinejad said: “I have not yet given an opinion on the elections and have not taken a stance, but I have viewpoints that, if necessary, I will share with the people at the time of the elections.”

In recent days, statements by Gholamali Haddad Adel, an adviser to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, about the certainty of Ahmadinejad’s disqualification should he register for the 2021 presidential election have faced considerable debate and controversy.

Attack on Haddad Adel, “Hand-Kisser of Farah Pahlavi”

In a video that circulated on social media, Ahmadinejad, in response to Haddad Adel’s statements, said: “How can one expect that with the role-playing of those who kissed the hand of Farah Pahlavi before the revolution and then changed their appearance and became super Hezbollahis, the country’s situation will improve, people’s conditions will be remedied, and the revolution’s movement will proceed in the right direction?”

Referencing a photograph of Haddad Adel kissing the hand of Farah Pahlavi, Ahmadinejad accuses him of acting against him continuously over the past 16 years and pressuring him to withdraw his candidacy in 2005.

Contrary to this claim, Ahmadinejad has always been considered the preferred president and under the support of Khamenei and his close associates, and it is said that Khamenei’s son and Haddad Adel’s son-in-law played a decisive role in announcing Ahmadinejad’s victory in 2005.

The former president, referring to his recent letter to Joe Biden, the new president of the United States, said that over the past 15 years he has written letters to all U.S. presidents after they took office, and in them, while describing global conditions, he has specifically mentioned the relationship between the Iranian and American peoples.

No news or reports have been published so far about possible responses to Ahmadinejad’s letters. He expressed regret that for more than 40 years “due to the political decision of governments,” relations between the Iranian and American peoples have been “severely weakened and are on the verge of severance.”

Over the past four decades, tens of thousands of Iranians, including many children of senior government officials, have gone to America for education and living, and many of them travel back and forth between the two countries.

Letter to Joe Biden to Resolve Issues through “Wise Men of the Nation”

Ahmadinejad said in his letter to Joe Biden he emphasized: “This dispute over 40 years has been to the detriment of both peoples, and other nations have not only gained no benefit but have also been harmed, and I wanted the wise men of both sides to sit down and resolve their issues based on justice and respect.”

In the Islamic Republic, the final decision-maker regarding broad foreign policies, especially important matters such as dealings with America, is in the hands of Ali Khamenei, and he, like most government officials, considers hostility with America a fundamental and inviolable principle.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, regarding the possibility of resuming nuclear negotiations with the Biden administration, said: “I believe that once again Iran and America and the rest should sit down and review issues from the beginning on the basis of justice and respect, and if there is an agreement, let it be a just, respectful agreement that respects the equal rights of nations, and let the 40-year confrontation be transformed into cooperation and interaction.”

The former head of the ninth and tenth governments is calling for the transformation of a 40-year confrontation into cooperation at a time when his eight-year presidency is considered the most tense years of the Islamic Republic’s relations with the world, resulting in the issuance of six UN Security Council resolutions against Iran with global consensus.

Source: DW