Ahmadinejad Sees Collapse of ‘Bullies’ As Good Chance to Spread Islam

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Thursday that the imminent collapse of international “bullies” would be a good opportunity to spread Islam and Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Ahmadinejad did not mention the U.S. by name but said that the “bullying powers” were on the verge of collapse because they are hated by the nations of the world, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Addressing a meeting of Islamic scholars and religious leaders, Ahmadinejad said that “all nations are looking for a new way as they lost their hope [in] the big powers.”

The present situation “is a great chance to introduce pure Islamic thoughts and ideals as well as Iran’s Islamic Revolution,” he said.

Retired Israeli army Lt.-Col Jonathan Halevi, a counter-terrorism expert, told CNSNews.com in an earlier interview that Iran has been using the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah as a “long-arm” to spread its Islamic revolution throughout the world.

In an address to the United Nations last month, Ahmadinejad charged that the “American empire in the world” was “reaching the end of its road.”

Ahmadinejad’s latest comments came a day after Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani threatened the U.S. with suicide bombings in response to an alleged U.S. counter-insurgency strike five miles inside Syria earlier this week.

“The U.S. should not think that its mischievous measures would remain without any consequence,” Larijani was quoted by IRNA as saying on Wednesday.

“Over the last two months, the U.S. repeatedly has attacked Pakistan and killed dozens of Pakistanis under the pretext of fighting terrorism,” he said. “This time the U.S. has committed a crime against Syria…this measure represents a new adventurism by the U.S. in the Middle East.”

Larijani said Israel and the U.S. are vulnerable to suicide bombers. He warned the U.S. that such “childish maneuvers” would “cost them dearly” and said they should be careful not to “run into the landmines sowed by the suicide bombers.”

U.S. helicopters reportedly crossed the border from Iraq into Syria on Sunday. Damascus called the incursion a “serious aggression” and said the U.S. killed eight civilians. Syria has demanded an apology.

Washington has remained silent about the incident, but a military official said that U.S. Special Forces had targeted a network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters who were moving from Syria to Iraq. The U.S. has long accused Syria of turning a blind eye to the movement of insurgents across its border into Iraq.

Thousands of Syrians protested against the U.S. raid in Damascus on Thursday. The American embassy in Damascus was closed for security reasons and Syrian security forces ringed the embassy to prevent trouble. The Syrian government is closing the American school there as of next week and it already has closed the American cultural center.

Larijani said that military might is not enough to solve the situation.

“It needs strong will to get the job done, as was in the case of Martyr Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh,” he said. Fahmideh was a 13-year-old boy who is considered to be an Iranian national hero for blowing himself up under an Iraqi tank during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Larijani made headlines last week when he appeared to endorse Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

He said that of the two U.S. presidential candidates Obama seemed “more rational” than Republican presidential contender John McCain.