Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being mocked in the run-up to this week’s Iranian presidential elections for a videoclip in which he boasts of how world leaders watched him for almost half an hour without blinking as he spoke in a halo of light to the United Nations.
The speech in question was in September 2005 when the Iranian President used his first address to the UN General Assembly in New York to indulge in a bit of his favourite sport, bashing America.
Afterwards, according to a videoclip that has gone viral in the e-mail inboxes of Tehran, he told a top cleric, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, that a “light” had enveloped him and that the crowd stared at him unblinkingly during the entire speech.
“A member of the (Iranian) delegation told me, ’I saw a light that surrounded you,”’ Mr Ahmadinejad said on the tape.
“I sensed it myself too ... I felt the atmosphere changed. All leaders in audience didn’t blink for 27, 28 minutes. I’m not exaggerating when I’m saying they didn’t blink. Everybody had been astonished ... they had opened their eyes and ears to see what is the message from the Islamic Republic.”
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The clip first surfaced in November 2005, prompting analysts to wonder whether Mr Ahmadinejad was really claiming divine inspiration and support or whether he was trying to cement his appeal to lower-class voters more likely to believe in supernatural phenomena.
The final days of the election campaign have seen Mr Ahmadinejad and his main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, trade recriminations and engage in unprecedented mudslinging.
Yesterday, Mr Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard - who had already broken all precedent by campaigning for her husband - held a press conference in which she accused the President of lying, humiliating women, debasing his office and betraying the principles of the revolution. Her ire had been provoked by Mr Ahmadinejad’s decision to question her husband’s academic qualifications during a televised debate last week.
Iranian reformists - sensing that Ahmadinejad’s once-formidable lead has evaporated - have increased their attacks seeking to portray him has erratic and eccentric. Mr Ahmadinejad has
struck back with accusations that Mr Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s, is part of a clique of corrupt leaders who put their own interests ahead of the country.
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The clip in question was released after Mr Ahmadinejad denied making the comment about the “light” surrounding him at the UN. Mr Mousavi’s daily newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, or Green Word, said in a front-page report that the Ayatollah’s office confirmed that the video is authentic.
Mr Mousavi also accused Mr Ahmadinejad of being “superstitious” and “brazenly staring at the camera and telling lies to the nation”.
On Saturday, Mr Ahmadinejad said that inflation stood at 15 per cent, but Mr Mousavi showed a report released by the Central Bank of Iran indicating it stood at 25 per cent.
“Why do we lie to people? Why do we give people wrong information? Is this to the country’s benefit? Is gaining the presidential chair worth lying to people this blatantly?” Mr Mousavi asked.
There are two other candidates in the race. The former parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi, who is considered a moderate, could siphon some votes from Mr Mousavi while Mohsen
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Rezaei, a former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, threatens to undercut Mr Ahmadinejad’s conservative base.
Ahmadinejad’s comments also have become the source of political satire that takes aim at his pious reputation among his supporters.
“Have you seen a halo in your addresses?” the former vice-president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, asked Mr Karroubi during a documentary shown on state TV last week.“Only certain people can see that. I don’t have this spiritual status,” Mr Karroubi replied.