Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was accosted last week by angry Iranians complaining about their dire living conditions, while he and members of his entourage were touring the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The video footage was aired on Israeli news broadcasts Tuesday night and was also recently uploaded to YouTube. The clip shows an elderly man shouting, "I am a pensioner, I am hungry," as Ahmadinejad's entourage passes by. A short while later, a young woman is seen jumping onto Ahmadinejad's car, urging to speak to him about her economic hardships while sitting on the car. After a brief conversation, Ahmadinejad allows the woman to enter his vehicle. Iran met Saturday in Istanbul with the Western powers in a bid to ease fears that Tehran may seek to build nuclear weapons. Officials said the talks began with a positive tone, in contrast to the previous round 14 months ago, which ended without progress. The sides agreed to meet on May 23 in Baghdad for further talks.
The U.S. and EU have imposed sanctions on Iran in an effort to deter it from developing nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad recently claimed that Iran could last two or three years even with the oil embargo set to take effect this summer.
