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06/26/2005:

"Iran's President - Elect Expected to Take on West"

Iran's conservative press hailed president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday as a man who could take on the United States and uphold the moral principles of the Islamic revolution.


The hardline conservative mayor of Tehran defeated moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a landslide election win, but has sparked concerns that his brand of conservatism will enflame a row over Iran's atomic program.

Ahmadinejad has struck a defiant stance on Iran's nuclear fuel program, that Washington argues is needed for atomic weapons, saying Tehran could never surrender its technology.

The conservative Kayhan newspaper wrote Ahmadinejad's win would scupper U.S. attempts to flex its muscles in the Middle East under what it called a smokescreen of spreading democracy.

``The recent election and the people's leaning toward a devout man ... means America's plot of democratization in the region has backfired,'' wrote editor Hossein Shariatmadari.

The Tehran Times said the new president would put Islamic principles back at the center of policy making.

``The election signifies a return to the idealistic principles that have been forgotten over the past few years,'' read an editorial in the conservative newspaper.

Ahmadinejad, 48, has already called for the nation to unite behind him in a spirit of solidarity, saying: ``We have to forget all our rivalries and turn them into friendships.''

Major policy decisions on the nuclear program, which Tehran denies is a ploy to get atomic weapons, are ultimately taken by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said his over-arching policy was unlikely to change and a new president would not be able to strike a harder line independently in nuclear negotiations with the European Union.

The European Union reacted warily to Ahmadinejad, who takes office in August.

``From the new President Ahmadinejad we are waiting for clear words on human rights and the nuclear issue. But if the replies are negative, the European Union will have no choice but to freeze dialogue with Iran,'' European commissioner Franco Frattini told Italy's La Repubblica daily.
Full: nytimes.com/reuters

He sounds like the CIA candidate to me...