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Tehran working to undermine Najaf truce |
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Monday, 06 September 2004 |
Official daily urges “worldwide attacks on U.S. interests”
Iran Focus
 Tehran, Aug 26 – Alarmed by the return of Grand Ayatollah Sistani to Najaf and the improving prospects of restoring peace in the holy Shiite city, Iran’s clerical rulers are taking measures to undermine any truce and create new trouble for the Coalition and the Iraqi government.
In a strongly-worded speech yesterday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States that it would face "decades of hatred" from the Islamic world after the fighting in Najaf.
A state-owned newspaper closely affiliated to Khamenei urged Moslems, especially in Iraq, to use the upcoming birthday of Imam Ali, the revered first Imam of Shiite Moslems whose shrine is in Najaf, as “a very good opportunity to show affection for Imam Ali, to declare support for the zealous defenders of his holy shrine and to vent our anger at the American occupiers and their Iraqi mercenaries.”
“This opportunity could set off a public uprising for attacking US interests across the world,” the paper wrote in its Tuesday issue.
The birthday of Imam Ali is on the thirteenth of Rajab in the Arabic lunar calendar, corresponding to Monday, August 30, or Tuesday, August 31.
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