Ahmadinejad update from the Sydney Morning Herald, with thanks to Nicolei. I don’t believe him, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that he is telling the truth and really wasn’t involved in the 1979 hostage crisis. Very well. Does he disapprove of it? Does he wish it hadn’t happened? Does he repudiate the ideology that motivated it? No to all three questions. Thus it is irrelevant whether or not he is the man in the picture, or was otherwise involved. He still represents the same world view as that which was held by the 1979 hostage takers.
The US has challenged Iran over the alleged involvement of its new president in the 1979 seizure of American hostages in Tehran, after former captives identified him as a ringleader.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line mayor of Tehran who won a presidential run-off election last week, was identified by at least half a dozen former hostages as one of the militants who took over the US embassy in November 1979 and held 52 Americans captive for 444 days.
Several former hostages said Mr Ahmadinejad was present during interrogations, but others do not remember his being among the captors.
In Iran leaders of the embassy takeover said Mr Ahmadinejad was not part of their group, and a spokesman for the President-elect denied that he had played any role in the hostage-taking.