Iran's premier gets into blogging

The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been revealed to be a blogger, even though he has only managed two posts this year.

The blog, called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memos, has been active for over a year and has attracted a wide readership. But despite promising to spend a set amount of time writing the blog, he has seldom managed to post this year.

"Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed," he writes.

"But this doesn't ‎mean that I have not been keeping my promise of spending 15 minutes per week ‎on it. As a matter of fact, I have spent more than the allocated time on the blog. The ‎magnitude of the reception and acclamation from the viewers was beyond ‎expectations."

As well as writing about his life and policies he also takes time to answer letters from readers.

"We too hate war – as you do," he wrote in response to an American mother asking why her son was sent to Iraq.

"Certainly, we are not panic-stricken of a defensive war, but we believe there are many diplomatic and peaceful ways and approaches to intercept paranoidal bullying and expansion policies and practices of US, Zionist usurper regime – the occupier of Palestine – and Britain. I assure you that Iran would not initiate any war!"

The blog also has a comment section. "I find it strange that the leader of the Free World hides so much and is afraid of free speech," writes Bill Cumming from the United Kingdom.

"While others, like yourself, offer open discourse. I may not agree with you on some things but at least you are willing to hear differences. Peace be with you."