The Associated Press, August 24, 2008 — Iran’s supreme leader is praising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for ’’standing up to’’ the West in a dispute over the country’s nuclear program. State TV quotes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying Ahmadinejad’s government has helped ’’revive’’ the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution that transformed Iran into a strict theocracy.

He was also quoted Sunday as saying ’’some bullying countries … wanted to impose their will on Iran (over the nuclear issue) … but the president stood up to them.’’

Ahmadinejad has come under some domestic criticism for his handling of the economy, despite a 2005 campaign promise to distribute Iran’s oil revenue to each family. Iran faces skyrocketing food and fuel prices, unemployment and inflation.