Washington (CNN) — Have you seen Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waving at you as you drive around your city?
The Iranian leader — or at least his photograph — zips around the nation’s capital on the side of buses. And he’s also popping up on billboards from Miami to St. Louis.
Ahmadinejad seems to be smiling and waving. But the words are deadly serious.
“Iran makes a KILLING every day we wait” the ad says. The word “KILLING” is in all caps and dark letters next to a barrel of oil and a pile of American dollars. It takes a closer reading to learn the advertisement supports clean energy legislation pending in Congress and an end to U.S. dependence on oil imports from countries like Iran.
“It’s obviously a bus ad. You can’t have a long essay,” said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network, creator of the ads. “We wanted to get people’s attention.”
Some of the estimated 1 million Iranian-Americans in the United States are paying close attention. And the National Iranian American Council is demanding the ads be removed, calling them insulting, simplistic and destructive.
Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council, is meeting this week with the American Values Network. In a letter, Abdi said the ads are provocative and look like they are advocating war against Iran.
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