Iran's new president says 'no' to liberalism

Iran's new hardline President Mahmood Ahmadinejad presented his proposed cabinet to parliament yesterday, lashing out at the West and liberalism and vowing a culture that "promotes virtue and prohibits vice".

Signalling his election would bring a clear break from the previous reformist administration of Mohammad Khatami, Ahmadinejad pledged to fight off liberalism that he argued threatened Islamic values.

"Currently we are importing from some countries billions of dollars whereas they are not buying our oil and they are also not buying our products," Ahmadinejad, who took office on August 3, told parliament.

"These countries should be thankful to us because we are helping their economies boom, but they are not thankful and are looking at us as if we were indebted to them," he told the conservative-controlled assembly.

"The international community they go so far as to condemn us. What sort of balance is this? This is injustice and oppression, and our nation will not accept this in international affairs."

It was a clear reference to threats against Iran in the wake of the Islamic republic's decision to resume sensitive nuclear work. The clerical regime has refused to return to a full freeze of nuclear fuel work -- the focus of fears the country is seeking atomic weapons.

The speech to parliament, carried live on state television and radio, opened a debate of several days on Ahmadinejad's proposed 21-member cabinet. Although right-wingers dominate the assembly the procedure may not be a mere formality.

Of those nominated, only two have previously held ministerial posts, and the others are mostly unknowns -- even to conservative MPs who dominate the Majlis.