Ahmadinejad's rival promises more talks with West

Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came under pressure today from a rival who promised to reverse his extremist policies.

Mahdi Karroubi, a moderate cleric, is one of four candidates running in the country’s June 12 elections.

Mr Karroubi strongly criticised Mr Ahmadinejad for pushing Iran into international isolation and said he needlessly antagonised the West by claiming the Holocaust was a myth, as well as failed to improve living standards despite huge oil revenues unseen in Iran’s history.

“Holocaust is a fact. It is obvious that it has occurred no matter whether the number of people who perished were six million or 6,000. (Denying the Holocaust) is of no benefit to Iran,” he said.

Mr Karroubi said the biggest challenge for his government, if elected, will be to return Iran to the position and image it had in 2004 when former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, a respected intellectual, stepped down.

Gholam Hossein Karbashchi, Mr Karroubi’s campaign manager, said Mr Ahmadinejad has taken Iran from the path of progress and wisdom and the candidate’s priority will be to return Iran to the international fold.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s hardline policies have provoked international condemnation of Iran and prompted the UN Security Council to issue three rounds of sanctions for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

The president provoked global denunciations after he called UN Security Council resolutions “worthless” and “torn bits of paper.”

Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a UN conference in Geneva last week and a pair of rainbow-wigged protesters threw clown noses at Ahmadinejad when he called Israel the “most cruel and repressive racist regime.”

While some supporters gave Mr Ahmadinejad a hero’s welcome on his return, moderates complained that the president had undermined “the dignity of Iran and Iranians.”

Mr Karroubi, a former parliamentary speaker, said he will pursue a foreign policy of detente with the West and would not mind meeting President Barack Obama if it would help Iran’s national interests.