Ahmadinejad: U.S. Leaders Should Be 'Buried'

Here he goes again. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is no stranger to provocative statements, but he may have gone too far in a speech Sunday. Addressing U.S. statements that a military attack against Tehran’s nuclear program is still an option, he said, “May the undertaker bury you, your table and your body, which has soiled the world”—using language in Iran reserved for hated enemies. A crowd of military men and clerics in the town of Hashtgerd west of the capital laughed and applauded the president’s insults. These remarks are the polar opposite to ones he made to Al-Jazeera in August, when he extended an olive branch to the U.S., offering them Iran’s friendship. In Sunday’s speech, Ahmadinejad once again accused Washington of being behind the September 11 attacks, and condemned recent U.S. sanctions against eight Iranian officials who were charged with human-rights abuses. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as many other top U.S. officials, have said recently that there is a plan in place to launch a military attack on Iran, although it’s seen as a bad idea.