IRAN’S ultra-conservative President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, threw down a challenge to the West yesterday by declaring that his election victory marked the dawn of a new Islamic revolution that would spread around the world.

“Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution has arisen and the Islamic revolution of 1384 [the current Iranian year] will, if God wills, cut off the roots of injustice in the world,” he said. “The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.”

His fiery language shows that he has not lost the revolutionary ardour that propelled him into politics as a young Basij Islamic militia volunteer who had fought in the Iran-Iraq war. It is also reminiscent of the rhetoric of Ayatollah Khomenei, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and is likely to sound alarm bells in the West, afraid that his victory could signal a return to post-revolutionary fundamentalism.

President Ahmadinejad has a reputation for defiant outbursts extolling Islamic values. But analysts say that he is stepping outside the confines of his role as President, as such rhetoric is the privilege of Iran’s spiritual Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. As Mayor of Tehran, he was reprimanded by the Supreme Leader for a similar speech.

“He needs to be put in check by the Supreme Leader, who will make it quite clear that, if anyone’s going to talk about exporting Islam, it’s the Supreme Leader and not the President,” one veteran analyst said.

President Ahmadinejad’s win has given the ideological Right renewed confidence and, most importantly, absolute power. Analysts fear that the country is now a step closer towards a dictatorship.

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