War of Wits

IRIB2 - Tehran, Iran - November 14th, 2006 in English-

<ANCHOR>Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad says Iran favors dialogue with all governments across the world, based on mutual respect, except the Zionist regime of Israel, which is illegal. President Ahmedinejad made that remark Tuesday at a press conference, while he also criticized the bullying attitude of Washington as a stumbling block between possible talks between the two nations.

To boost links between the Iranian and American nations, President Ahmedinejad noted that Iran has called for launching a direct flight between the two countries, an attempt which has not met due response from the other side. President Ahmedinejad went on to say Iran favors a boost to the links between the two nations.

<AHMEDINEJAD> We will provide Americans with visas to visit Iran. We like all people and hail cultural contacts between the two nations. We deal with the world on the basis of logic. The other side however, seems to be afraid of links between the nations.

<ANCHOR> As for Iran’s civilian atomic birth, President Ahmedinejad stated that Iran plans to make a total of sixty thousand centrifuges operational for production of atomic fuel, and to that cause, three thousand centrifuges will come on stream (sic) soon. Following remarks by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who reached out to Iran and Syria Monday to help coalition force (sic) restore security in Iraq, former Iranian Prime Minister <name unintelligible> said on Tuesday quote “One month prior to US-led invasion of Iraq, I warned Prime Minister Blair against engaging with Iraqi people.

<Name Unintelligible> added quote “One year on, I repeated my previous warnings, and told Blair that the coalition force will face still tougher conditions if they fail to leave the Muslim country before it gets late” (sic). The head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations said the West has turned it’s back on Iran’s warnings, adding their return now is untimely, since they have got stuck in a quagmire in Iraq.

<Name Unintelligible> continued: “Iran has no way out, but to act on prudence, and put it own expediency, and that of the region before anything else.” He added: ” Tehran sees no grounds to help those whose presence does nothing but to stir up tension in the region.”