A video appears to show President Ahmadi-nejad saying, “They are full of s**t,” when told that the Majlis was questioning the need to take 140 people with him to New York for the UN General Assembly
The video in question shows a BBC Persian service reporter, Bahman Kalbasi, questioning Ahmadi-nejad about the size of the crowd accompanying him. Of course, no one in Iran is supposed to watch BBC Persian, so Ahmadi-nejad’s words should have been lost in the ether.
But a video of the exchange went viral. And after that, as Radio Farda phrased it, “The fecal matter really hit the fan.”
The Fars news agency last week said the president’s office “strongly” denied that Ahmadi-nejad had ever uttered the insult, and described the video as “ridiculous.”
The validity of the video is now under discussion. Many who viewed it have engaged in online debate about what Ahmadi-nejad actually said. Some argue it was too garbled to tell, while others offered alternate interpretations of the Persian word “goh.” Still others suggested “goh” had been dubbed on the video and that the offensive word never passed the President’s lips.
Additional videos of the incident have emerged on YouTube, showing Ahmadi-nejad mumbling a response that is impossible to decipher. And the BBC reporter in the video has said the president did not utter the insult being attributed to him. One might think that would end the debate. It hasn’t.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani labeled the story rubbish. “I do not think that he has said this and we should not fall into such a trap,” Larijani was quoted as telling the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA). That was probably the nicest thing Larijani has ever said about the president.
The BBC itself came under criticism from the president’s office for “spreading lies and the use of unprofessional and immoral methods” in an effort to smear the government and cause unrest in Iran. Why the president’s office didn’t just quote the BBC reporter exonerating him is unknown. Perhaps it is a reluctance to admit that the BBC might say something truthful.