Some trying to put distance between me and the Leader: Rafsanjani

Fuente: 
Mehr News
Fecha de publicación: 
28 Ene 2013
Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council and the most serious critic of Ahmadinejad says some people have tried to disrupt his relations with the Supreme Leader. “We usually talk, and we are very comfortable in our relationship.”

In a meeting with press, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani answered questions on the presidential elections and that whether the country needed his candidacy for presidential elections. “Today, the country needs harmony more than ever. I believe that there are others with more capabilities and more energy than me for the candidacy. If I thought there was nobody other than me, I would come,” he added.

“I am a simple guy, born in a village, whose honor comes from the Islamic Republic. Of course, my path differed from others’, since I should work with the Leader,” he asserted, and “some have tried to disrupt my relationship with the Supreme Leader, but the Leader and I have very comfortable relationship and we talk and this is the way it should be.”

* Leader is very tolerant

The member of Assembly of Experts believed empathy and harmony as necessary for a system to survive. “Today, empathy is the best shield against the enemy. I am not alone in this verdict. The Leader also would say this,” he asserted.

The Leader said that empathy is the best defense

“Before parliamentary elections, I met with the Leader. We talked about Western pressures on nuclear program, terrorism, human rights, and Iranian missile industry, seeking a strategy,” Rafsanjani added.

“The Leader said that empathy is the best defense,” he said. Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said that in today’s world, there is not enough empathy among countries, “but it was empathy that helped us victorious despite eight years of Holy Defense and sabotage by the MEK terrorists group.”

The Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council pointed to situations in Iran’s neighboring countries. “Afghanistan started their Revolution by defeating the Soviet while we had our Revolution. But Afghans did not having empathy and they shed a lots of blood.  But our Revolution enjoyed people’s votes and empathy among them. Imam [Khomeini] was very hasty for referendum,” he explained.

Rafsanjani remembered the time when Algerians sent messages to Iran to
announce drafting their constitution after 20 years. “But Imam [Khomeini] had begun drafting the constitution when he was in Paris,” he added.

* Taliban and Wahhabies infiltrate the Arab revolutionaries

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani pointed to revolutions in Egypt and Libya, saying that “unfortunately, Salafists and Taliban forces have infiltrated revolutionary forces in Egypt and Libya, and strange events are taking place.”

“They are so strong on their beliefs that they are willing to blow themselves up,” he added. “I once said to Benazir Bhutto that you have such noble ideology and yet your country is supporting and fostering Taliban. She answered; government is not responsible for this, the Wahhabies are doing these action. She said that as a woman, she had rejected anti-women slogans,” Rafsanjani said.

He pointed to nuclear program and said; “nuclear issue” was present during the war, and during President Khamenei, and also it was there during my presidency.

“The IAEA started criticizing us, when we entered Atomic Club; they attacked us more than they did before.”

The Construction Government head then, also believed that Iran’s relations with others were favorable in his presidency. “Of course, in my Government, we had good relations with other countries. We did not work with the West, but in the region, Iran was popular. Even some of the countries on our northern boarders, were seeking our advice,” he said.

About Iran-US relation, Rafsanjani pointed to Imam’s [Khomeini] opinion that “if US corrected its behavior, we would accept resuming ties,” and that “the Leader has had the last word, but if the US stops its harassment of the Muslims, we will not have any problems with them.”

 

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