The second, and most highly anticipated, of Iran’s presidential debates took place last night between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, the New York Times reports. Mousavi is considered to pose the greatest threat to Ahmadinejad’s chances at re-election, and the debate was harsh. Mousavi accused Ahmadinejad of fixating on the Holocaust and declarations that countries like the U.S., Israel and France were collapsing. “Your foreign policies have been based on such illusional perceptions” Mousavi asserted.
Ahmadinejad, in turn, brushed off the criticism and accused Mousavi of being in cahoots with former presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani in plotting his downfall, accusing Mousavi’s allies of corruption.