Ayatollah Ali Khameini has declared the use of nuclear weapons as "against Islamic rules" As BSSC observes, "it's probably fair to say that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran takes his religion really rather seriously".
However, this has not been reported anywhere, and what we've got instead is reports of him threatening to cut oil supplies if his country is attacked.
As Jonathan Steele points out in a must-read article in the Guardian, it is really Khameini who is top dog in Iran. It was not long ago, before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected, that the West lamented the lack of power in the position of the elected President vis a vis the Supreme Leader. Now one "wiped off the map" remark later, and it's all forgotten - a comment though that Steele maintains has been misquoted.
Good post, Osama. I wouldn't have been aware of it if I'd not visited your blog. And I consider reasonably abreast of media coverage. Ho-hum!
Posted by: Ted | 09 June 2006 at 03:19 PM