Ahmadinejad greets a worshipper at Friday prayers in Tehran on February 2 (epa)
February 2, 2007 -- French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has quoted Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad as saying that one should really hope for "chaos" because "there will be God" afterward.
Douste-Blazy writes in his new book that Ahmadinejad made the comment on the sidelines of the 2005 UN General Assembly, during nuclear talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Britain.
In the book, which was published February 1 in France, Douste-Blazy writes that the EU ministers were "stunned" by the Iranian president's comment.
Ahmadinejad stirred controversy by saying that he felt surrounded by light when he delivered his speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2005.
Ahmadinejad has also called for the return of al-Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Shi'ite Islam, whose reappearance is supposed to restore justice before the end of the world.
(AFP)
RFE/RL Iran Report
RFE/RL Iran Report