Mousavi follows the party line

I suggested here that Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who seems to have given Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quite a run for his money in the Iranian presidential elections, looks like a pretty poor excuse for a moderate. It also appears that he is an ardent supporter of Iran’s nuclear program. Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois provides the specifics:

On April 27, 2009, Mr. Mousavi told Der Spiegel, “We will not abandon the great achievements of Iranian scientists. I too will not suspend uranium enrichment.” Der Spiegel asked if he would at least consider the outsourcing of uranium enrichment, as proposed by Russia. Mr. Mousavi responded simply, “No.”

On April 13, 2009, Mr. Mousavi told the Financial Times, “No one in Iran would accept suspension. Progress in nuclear technology and its peaceful use is the right of all countries and nations. This is what we have painfully achieved with our own efforts. No one will retreat.”

On April 6, 2009, according to the Associated Press, Mr. Mousavi said, “We have to have the technology,” adding that “the consequences of giving up the country’s nuclear program would be ‘irreparable’ and that the Iranian people support the nuclear program.”

On March 11, 2009, the Washington Post quoted Mr. Mousavi as saying, “The nuclear technology is one of the examples of the achievements of our youth

It could hardly be otherwise, I suspect. If there were any reason to believe that Mousavi favored a change in course on Iran’s nuclear program, I doubt that Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters in the Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary would have permitted him to get as far as he has in this election.

Via Max Boot.

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