TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called yesterday for “profound changes” in US foreign policy – including an end to support for Israel and an apology to the Islamic republic for past misdeeds.
The hard-line president also urged Washington to withdraw its troops stationed around the world. He said Iran would be closely watching what President Obama’s new administration does and would welcome a real shift in its approach.
“Change means giving up support for the rootless, uncivilized, fabricated, murdering . . . Zionists, and letting the Palestinian nation decide its own destiny,” Ahmadinejad said. “Change means putting an end to US military presence in [different parts of] the world.”
His comments come as Obama is reaching out to Muslims. Obama has stressed the importance of engaging Iran, a country the Bush administration often singled out as the most dangerous in the Middle East. In his inaugural address, Obama addressed leaders of hostile nations by saying, “We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Without mentioning Obama by name, Ahmadinejad repeatedly referred to those who want “change,” a buzzword of Obama’s election campaign.
“When they say, ‘We want to bring changes,’ change may happen in two ways: First is profound, fundamental and effective change . . . The second . . . is a change of tactics,” he told thousands of people in the western city of Kermanshah in a speech broadcast live on state television.
“We will wait patiently, listen to their words carefully, scrutinize their actions under a magnifier, and if change happens truly and fundamentally, we will welcome that,” he added. “The change will be to apologize to the Iranian nation and try to compensate for their dark records and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation.”
Ahmadinejad cited the US-backed coup that toppled the elected government of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh in 1953, its support of the unpopular shah, its backing of Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s war with Iran in the 1980s, and the downing of an Iranian airliner in 1988 by an American naval ship.