WikiLeaks documents: five world leaders disparaged by US diplomats

World leaders back-slap like old friends at summit meetings. But behind the bonhomie they may be judging each other with the brutal candor of high school students sizing up rivals.

4. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Ilqar Ceferov/Reuters
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad adjusts his headphones during a news conference in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 18.

At one point in the WikiLeaks cables US officials equate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Adolf Hitler. But that’s par for the course – the cables also show that many nations are furious with Iran and angry about its march toward nuclear weapons capabilities.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a US diplomat that President Ahmadinejad “does not think rationally” and that Iran is always “stirring up trouble,” for instance. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Iran’s foreign minister to “spare us your evil” in a meeting. And Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassam bin Jaber al-Thani summarized for US diplomats his nation’s approach to diplomacy with Iran: “They lie to us and we lie to them.”

4 of 5
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.