Iranian President says global credit crunch is sign domination of ‘international thieves’ is over.


TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday blamed a lack of attention to religion and God for the crisis in global financial markets.

"Their economy is collapsing... the reason for their defeat is that they have abandoned faith in God and piety," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in the northeastern city of Bojnurd.

The financial crisis is a sign that the domination of "international thieves" is over, he said, in comments following the same theme as a speech on Monday by Pope Benedict XVI.

The repercussions of the credit crunch are "evidence that God's promise is being delivered, that tyrants and corrupt (people) should go and be replaced by the pious and believers," he said.

"God willing, a global government of justice will be set up with the resistance of Iranian people as the flag-bearers (of the movement) led by Imam Mahdi."

The president is a devotee of the Mahdi, the 12th imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than 1,000 years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony.

Pope Benedict said the financial crisis sweeping the world proves the futility of craving success and money and urged instead that people base their lives on the word of God.

Those who seek "success, career or money are building their lives on sand," Benedict told a synod of bishops at the Vatican.