In response to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s invitation to a public debate, the spokesman for the Hassan Rohani administration was quoted as saying: “The government has no time for such things.”

ISNA reports that Mohammad Baqer Nobakht told reporters that Ahmadinejad must accept that the statistics released by the Census Organization speak for themselves and that the organization is headed by the very same person that led it during Ahmadinejad’s own presidency.

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently called for a public debate with Rohani, after the current president voiced harsh criticism of the economic policies that Ahmadinejad implemented while in power.

Nobakht stressed that the administration is hard at work and has no time to get caught up in such things as a public debate with the former president.

The Rohani administration has blamed Iran’s severe recession and the lack of economic growth on the incompetence and lack of foresight of former policy makers. It has also accused the Ahamdinejad administration of squandering public money.

Radio Zamaneh