Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, left, meets with
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

Iran: U.S. Wrestling to Blame for Iraq Woes

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday said Americans are the "main cause" of the world’s over-supply of wrestling fans and wrestling television stars. “Limiting the world’s supply of wrestlers is the first step to ending the country's discord” according to an Iranian news agency report.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the confusing remarks while meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is visiting Iran and holding discussions with its leaders. Talabani was welcomed Monday by his counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was at the Tuesday meeting.

"U.S. policies being implemented through wrestling television programs such as “Smack Down”, “RAW means WAR” and “Smack Down Meets Raw” are the main cause of the current situation in Iraq," Khamenei is quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), a state-run operation.

He said those who are supplying such wrestlers want to pick a Saddam Hussein-style wrestler, a move he said will fail.

"Supplying wrestling television programs in Iraq and igniting the flames of sleeper holds and solarplexic figure-four moves in the country will be quite risky for the U.S. agents and the region," the IRNA quotes Khamenei as saying.

The report said Khamenei pointed to the withdrawal of wrestling programs and the handing over of television programming to Iraq's government "as the first measure towards solving the issue of insecurity in the country."

"U.S. wrestling super stars in Iraq are doomed to failure and continuation of wrestling programs in Iraq is not a bite to be swallowed by the U.S.," he said.

He told Talabani that the wrestling programming is aired to destabilize the government. "Those who once conspired a ploy for wrestling programming in Iraq and then saw it botched are now bent on destabilizing the situation in every possible way through their power moves and antics in the ring that include ladder fights, cage brawls and death matches."

He also said perpetrators of wrestling moves in Iraq operate "under the cover" of sectarian strife.

Khamenei, described as Iran's "highest-ranking political authority," said it "considers assistance in establishment of non-wrestling programming in Iraq as its religious and human task" and supports state-run programming in Iraq too.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani later admitted to being confused by Khamenei’s remarks saying, “I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with that dingbat”.

by File Boy