Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad clashed with reformist rival Mehdi Karroubi in a televised debate on Saturday, defending his controversial economic policies and questioning the cleric’s integrity.
Karroubi accused Ahmadinejad of dishonesty after the president painted a picture of the economy the cleric said was unreal.
Ahmadinejad, 52, seeking a second four-year term, said Iran’s economy had actually grown under his administration, a claim contrary to reports by economists who have blamed him for an economic crisis.
PHOTO: AFP
In a rare series of debates aired on state television ahead of June 12 poll, he paraded a series of colorful charts claiming Iran’s GDP had risen to an annual average of “around 6.25 percent from 5.61 percent in the previous government.”
He said inflation had “come down and was less than 15 percent now,” adding that pensions had jumped by “nearly 256 percent.”
Central bank figures show Iran is reeling under inflation of around 25 percent. The unemployment rate is around 12.5 percent.
“The salaries of people from the lowest strata of society rose under the present government,” Ahmadinejad said.
Karroubi, 72, is dubbed the “sheikh of reforms” in Iran. He tried to counter Ahmadinejad in the occasionally fiery debate, saying the “government must be honest to the people” and said “lying is the worst sin in Islam.”
Dismissing the figures given by Ahmadinejad, the cleric said: “I have been working in the parliament for 16 years ... all the figures that you have given are contradictory to the ones we have seen over the years.”
Karroubi ran for president in 2005, but was defeated in the first round. He claimed that was due to “bizarre irregularities” in the voting process.
Meanwhile, Iranian media said yesterday that Ahmadinejad’s main challenger has warned the president may be trying to incriminate his supporters ahead of Friday’s election.
The report in several Internet news sites and newspapers says Mir Hossein Mousavi wrote a letter to Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying there is a possibility Ahmadinejad and his supporters are trying to fabricate evidence against Mousavi’s supporters.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS