TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- There is growing criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, including a parliamentary drive to summon him to answer questions, a report says.
Even previously friendly hard-line newspapers have taken him to task for being too hostile towards the West since the passage of a U.N. sanctions resolution, the BBC said.
About 50 members of parliament are believed to have signed a resolution that would force him to come before the body. But 75 signatures are needed for the resolution to take effect.
A letter asking the president to be more realistic in the assumptions behind his next budget has received the signatures of 150 members of parliament, the report said.
Ahmadinejad is now in South America on an official tour that included a stop in Venezuela to visit President Hugo Chavez. The two leaders share a hostility towards the United States and large oil revenues.
The internal criticism includes Ahmadinejad's failure to stop Iran's economic difficulties, his focus on making Iran a nuclear power and his recent conference on the Holocaust.
