Who leads Iran?

Tuesday, 2nd June 2009

Marty Peretz makes a sensible point:

A story by Parisa Hafezi at Reuters knocks the wind out of the expectation that, if Dr. A'jad loses his re-election campaign, Iran's nuclear policy will be changed. These matters rest in the head and hands of the Ayatollah Al Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, successor to the revolutionary founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Well, it's a sort-of-sensible point. I'm not sure how many people really think that Iran's nuclear policy might change, regardless of the result of the elections. However, it is important that more people understand that Ahmadinejad is not the man in charge when it comes to Iran's nuclear ambitions. That being the case, treating his incendiary, hateful, foolish rhetoric as proof that Iran is preparing to annihilate Israel makes little to no sense at all. Upsetting and worrying? Sure. Proof that Iran is hell-bent on the destruction of Israel and, thus, on its own demise? Not so much. You'd almost think that those people most determined to advance the Ahmadinejad-as-bogeyman-and-evil-genocidal-genius-mastermind had an agenda or something...

Filed under: Iran (144 more articles) , Israel (104 more articles)

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ndm

June 2nd, 2009 12:30am Report this comment

The notion that Ahdmadinejad has little to do with Iran's nuclear policy has been well understood in sane Iran-watching circles for some time. Given the sudden recognition of this by people like Marty, would now be a good time to bet on Ahdmadinejad losing the election?