tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the target of an assassination plot at the UN food summit in Rome earlier this month as well as during a trip to Iraq in March, an aide said yesterday.
Ahmadinejad last week revealed the purported Iraq murder plot - an announcement greeted with astonishment in some sections of the local press - but this is the first time a conspiracy has been linked to his Italy trip.
"The actions of the president over the three previous years have endangered the illegitimate interests of many people in Iran and outside," said Ali Zabihi, according to the Fars news agency.
"That is why some people have thought of eliminating or assassinating the president," added Zabihi, who was described as Ahmadinejad's adviser for human resources. "But the plots to assassinate the president in Iraq and at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) conference failed, thanks to God," he said.
Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that enemies had planned to kidnap and kill him in Iraq but the plot was foiled after the Iranian delegation changed their travel plans.
According to Zabihi, the plots were in line with the order given by (US President George W) Bush to kill Iranian leaders." He did not give further details.
He even compared the plots to the deadly attacks committed by the outlawed armed opposition against some of Iran's top officials in the early years after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"Like at the start of the revolution, some people inside and outside the country have been trying to create a poisoned atmosphere to prepare an action against him."
Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations for almost the past three decades and remain arch-enemies who are at loggerheads in a standoff over what the United states calls Tehran's nuclear drive.
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