Iran's supreme leader defends Ahmadinejad [Excerpts]

Iran's supreme leader defends Ahmadinejad [Excerpts]

Iran's supreme leader was quoted Sunday as praising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "standing up to" the West in a dispute over the country's nuclear program, amid growing domestic criticism of the president's management.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered unusually glowing praise of Ahmadinejad, who upon his election in 2005 sparked a confrontation with the West by resuming uranium enrichment and also prompted worldwide condemnation for denouncing Israel. The country's spiritual leader has rarely, if ever, expressed such support for any other Iranian politician.

Ahmadinejad is facing a firestorm of criticism at home, particularly over his handling of the economy. He won office on a campaign promise to distribute Iran's oil wealth to each family. But Iran increasingly faces skyrocketing food and fuel prices, unemployment and inflation.

Ahmadinejad's government has helped "revive" the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution that transformed Iran into a strict theocracy, state TV quoted Khamenei as saying at a Cabinet meeting Saturday.

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1465555

[TBC: "Reviving the values" of the 1979 Islamic revolution has only increased the threat of death for multitudes.]