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Your Most Trusted Source of Foreign
News and Views About the United States
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By Hassan Hanizadeh
August 4, 2005
Tehran: Mahmud Ahmadinejad was installed as Iranian President by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, here on Wednesday.
—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Iran's New President Sworn in, Faces Diplomatic Showdown Over Nuclear Program, Aug. 3, 00:02:11
According to Iranian law, the new president begins his official activities at the end of the installation ceremony.
Ahmadinejad is scheduled to be sworn in as president during an inauguration ceremony in the Majlis [Iranian Parliament] on Saturday and will introduce his cabinet post nominees the same day.
The Ahmadinejad Administration will face many challenges in both foreign and domestic affairs.
On the domestic front, Ahmadinejad must fulfill his commitment to improve living standards and all the other serious economic problems confronting Iran - despite inflation, unemployment, and the gap between rich and poor.
During his political campaign, Ahmadinejad promised to spend surplus oil revenue on the people’s welfare won him the support of a majority of working class and poor voters. In addition, Iranians expect their new president to fight corruption and increase the public's buying power by taking the first steps toward eliminating economic middlemen and breaking the monopoly on wealth-producing activities.
Such measures would be President Ahmadinejad's positive answer to the people who elected him and send the undeniable message that Iranians are tired of economic discrimination and the chasm between the various strata of society.
In the administrative arena, the president should establish a meritocracy to replace the nepotism that has dominated the system and driven many of the most talented members of society to the margins. Ahmadinejad should also strive to create needed psychological security. A brain drain resulting from a lack of occupational and psychological security has undermined the population, 65 percent of whom are under the age of 30.
One of the other domestic issues that require greater attention is Iran's nuclear program, which has become a critical national issue. A majority of Iranians want the country to gain access to modern nuclear technology at any cost.
Unfortunately, some international media outlets allied with the Zionist regime and the United States have directed a policy of character assassination at Iran's new president, and are trying to give the impression that Ahmadinejad's "hard-line" attitude will prevent him from maintaining friendly relations with the global community.
The West's false accusations against Ahmadinejad are in fact part of a new wave of propaganda, led by the United States and the Zionist lobby, to blackmail Iran's new government.
At the same time and without the approval of the U.S. Congress, President George W. Bush took the unusual step of making a recess appointment of John Bolton - one of America's most unpopular officials - to the key post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton is expected to be an opponent of the Iran's new government at the U.N.
These measures indicate that, after a series
of propaganda campaigns against
But with its tremendous public support, the
Ahmadinejad Administration will never submit to the blackmail of the
