Iran: Israeli regime won’t survive
In rare press conference open to foreign media, on eve of Holocaust memorial day, Iranian president addresses West, questions why ‘Germans, Palestinians have to suffer for war their generation wasn’t involved in?’
This is only the second time since he entered his position last August that the Iranian president allowed foreign media access to one of his press conferences.
With chilling timing, which was likely intentional, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, Ahmadinejad said that “60 years have passed since the end of World War II. Why do the Germans and Palestinians need to pay for a war that the present generation was not involved in?"
"For 60 years you have been telling the German people that their fathers were criminals and making them ashamed. If in fact there was a plan to exterminate the Jews, why didn’t you allow an inquiry into the matter, instead saying that no one needs to be investigated in this regard?," he said.
According to reports by Iran’s state news agency IRNA, Ahmadinejad turned to the nations of Europe saying: “Owing to the hatred of Jews in your countries, the Jews left and came to Palestine. The Jews, like every other nation in the world, have a right to live in peace and security. The nations of the West must grant them back their original citizenships. You are the ones that created this problem by bringing Jews to Palestine, and therefore you need to solve it.”
The Iranian president also addressed his country’s nuclear program, and the ultimatum set by the United Nations Security Council that expires this Friday. Ahmadinejad said he didn’t believe the U.N. would decide to put sanctions on Iran.
“I think it is not likely this will happen. Any limitation placed on us will only cause them more damage,” he threatened. “Today Iran is strong and rich and we did not get this from them but by hard work and by the efforts of Iranian scientists. The era of manufacturing atomic weapons is over. The current era is the time of wisdom, frankness and intellect.”
Ahmadinejad attacked Western countries saying, “Why did you support the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran immediately after the Islamic revolution? Why are you leading a campaign against the Iranian nuclear program, when you know very well it is intended for civilian purposes?”
Regarding neighboring Iraq, he added, “Now that a new prime minister has been chosen and the situation there has stabilized, there is no need to hold talks on the matter between Iran and the United States.”
Contradictory messages
Four days before the U.N. Security Council’s ultimatum is set to expire, Iran continues to convey to the world contradictory and confused messages about its nuclear plan. After a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday that his country’s nuclear program was “irreversible,” senior officials in Tehran have been hinting about willingness to compromise. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the Iranian press agency that “Iran is ready to reach multilateral understandings.”
Hassan Rouhani, a representative of Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei at the National Security Committee, told reporters recently that “Iran has no problem stopping its uranium enrichment for a short period, but the problem is that the West and the United States will take advantage of such a move.” According to reports, he added, “Their final goal is that Iran won’t have the ability to enrich uranium.”
On Friday the IAEA is slated to report to the Security Council on whether Iran will withhold the committee’s decision calling on it to freeze uranium enrichment and open its plants to international observers. A scathing report on Iran is expected.
