Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backs hard-line Iranian President Ahmadinejad

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iranian official news agency says the country's top leader has urged hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to plan for a second four-year term. IRNA says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has told Ahmadinejad that he should not think his administration is serving its final year and that he has to work as if he will stay in power for another four years. Khamenei has praised Ahmadinejad for "standing up to" the West in a dispute over the country's nuclear program, amid growing domestic criticism of the president's management.