Iranian man throws shoes at Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. REUTERS photo

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been attacked by a jobless man wielding a pair of shoes, a local website reported.

Although the president ducked and managed to miss being hit by the shoes, those who witnessed the event assaulted the launcher and beat him, Euronews website quoted Ghased News as reporting. “If the police were not present, nobody knows what would have happened,” the site reported. 

The former textile worker is said to have a track record in president-thrashing. It is claimed he threw a tomato at ex-President Mohammad Khatami when he was visiting Sari during his presidency. Currently only identified as Rashid Sh., the man has reportedly not received a salary for the past year. Iran officially reports its unemployment rate at about 11 percent, but some experts say it is much higher. Throwing shoes at politicians is a form of protest seen most commonly in the Arab world. George W. Bush was the recipient of such when an Iraqi journalist presented his protest via his footwear.

Meanwhile, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee said yesterday the military would soon practice closing the Gulf to shipping at the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the most important oil transit channel in the world. The legislator, Parviz Sarvari, told the student news agency ISNA, “Soon we will hold a military maneuver on how to close the Strait of Hormuz. If the world wants to make the region insecure, we will make the world insecure.” Furthermore, the head of Iran’s parliamentary national security committee, Parviz Sorouri, yesterday said Iran will “reverse-engineer” the U.S. drone it has in its possession and is in the “final stages” of unlocking the aircraft’s software secrets.