Iran's president, responding to President Bush's comments in support of the Iranian reform movement, denounced the American leader on Sunday as a "warmonger" with a false view of events in this country.
The harsh reaction by President Mohammad Khatami came as another top reformist told Bush to stay out of the movement's struggle with hard-liner clerics.
Asked about Bush's remarks during a Cabinet meeting Sunday, Khatami urged "those (within the Bush administration) pursuing a warmongering policy ... to get rid of the false interpretation of the situation in Iran." "Extremist policies dominating part of the American government are threatening the world with war," Khatami said in comments carried by the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Earlier Sunday, prominent reformist lawmaker Mohsen Mirdamadi said Bush should stop insulting Iran and keep out of the nation's reform process.
Mirdamadi, who heads the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was quoted as saying reformists did not need "any assistance from" Bush. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
