Ahmadinejad sends message to Maradona

PTV - President Ahmadinejad in a message to the Argentine football legend, Diego Armando Maradona, has hailed his affection for the Iranian nation.

The Iranian president also thanked Maradona for bestowing his autographed T-shirt on the Iranian nation last year, IRIB reported on Wednesday.

"I am with the Iranian people, from the bottom of my heart, I support them. I say it because I feel it, because I mean it," Maradona had said.

"The Iranian nation has always hailed the freedom movements in the Latin America against the arrogance system," President Ahmadinejad said in his message.

"We know that the championship of the youth of that region (Latin America) in athletic games especially football shows the great talent of its nations and is a cry of protest against the backwardness which is the result of colonialism," the Iranian president said.

At the end of the message, President Ahmadinejad expressed his best wishes for Maradona and the Latin American nations, especially Argentina.