Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Has Isolated Iran from the West

Mehdi Karrubi says the policies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have left Iran isolated in the world.

At a news conference, the candidate in the tenth presidential elections of the Republic of Iran added that the views held by Ahmadinejad have damaged Iran’s standing.

Mr. Karrubi maintained that if he won the elections, he would pursue politics different from those of the current government and he would seek to bring about a détente in relations with the West.

According to the report by the Associated Press, Mr. Karrubi also estimated that Ahmadinejad has reaped only “paltry economic gains” during his presidency.

The former chairman of the Iranian Majles (Iranian Parliament) continued in this vein, stating that the president of the Republic’s denial of the Holocaust provoked the “indignation and anger of other countries.”

Mr. Karrubi maintained that the words of Ahmadinejad in this regard are damaging rather than constructive because the Holocaust issue had nothing to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran, whether it had occurred or not.

He was referring to the most recent statements of the incumbent president of the Republic of Iran at the anti-racism conference in Geneva where the latter had found Israel to have a racist government.

According to Reuters, the secretary general of the E’temad-e Melli party (National Trust party) emphasized that Iranian policies must be developed and implemented based on self-determined national interests.

Karrubi is one of the candidates running in the tenth presidential race in the Republic of Iran.

The criticism voiced by this candidate in the presidential election of the Republic has been one of the fiercest and most articulate to be launched directly against the foreign policy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government.

Mr. Karrubi, in another part of his statement, stated that “the plans of Obama, the president of the United States of America, to improve relations with the Islamic world are of prime importance. But he must take steps like lifting the sanctions against Iran.”