WORLD : Rafsanjani Taunts Bush on Hoax Call, Says It Shows Iran’s Power
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said today that the phone hoax in which President Bush thought he was speaking to Rafsanjani shows how important Iran is in the world.
“Iran’s stature in the world is so high that the strongest power in the world and the greatest power on Earth is striving to find an opening with your executive leader even through telephone wires,” Rafsanjani said in a sermon.
“Can it be that such a global power, with all its intelligence capabilities, talks to a person it cannot identify?” he asked. “This is a strange occurrence.”
“This shows the United States very much needs to talk to Iran, but, with God’s grace, it is deprived of this blessing,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said in Washington on Thursday that Bush returned a phone call last month to a man he thought was the Iranian president, but it turned out to be a hoax.
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