[Learned]

Sorry to burst your bubble (as well as your fancy scanning skills) CEDARLAND, but there are literally dosens of books like this, all written by authors who have not studied in a hawza and are not qualified to make the statements and claims that they do. They certianly do not represent the views of "Iranian leaders", so your statement is grossly misleading.

In reality, according to Shia Ithna Ashari ideology, no person among humanity can ever be in a position (whether they are a religous scholar or not) to predict or delinate when/how the age of thuhoor is. There is a hadeeth that states "kathiba al muwaqitoon walaw sadaqu", which was stated by one of the Shia Imams in reference to the question of thuhoor. If independent authors want to make unsubstantiated claims and broad characterizations of conflicts and struggles in a religous messianic context, in a time where rhetoric like this sells well, this is their choice and they have the freedom to publish what they want.

However, I fail to see how the writings of these people translate into the view of the Iranian leadership. Even if it was the case that some Iranian leaders (such as Ahmadinejad), may hold strongly to some of these views, I would point out that he has been criticized heavily on this issue by scholars outside the government framework and politicians and leaders within the government as well.

So please try to have a little bit in objectivity and attachment to reality when you make broad characterizations about others. Thanks.