Ahmadinejad: Israel Basically Engineered For Aggression, Assault

Cairo, Feb 6, IRNA – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the very presence of Zionist regime is the source of war and aggression in the region. The President made the remarks here Tuesday evening in a meeting with a number of major media and press managers of Egypt. He said the Zionist regime was eager to attack Iran but was scared of the consequences of such an act. The President said the same countries which engineered the Zionist regime have come to the conclusion that their hand-made instrument is no longer capable of carrying out its missions and thus are changing their approach towards it, virtually meaning the annihilation of Zionism and occupation. He said the Zionists have already recognized this change in attitude and want to alter the situation to their own benefit by measures such as attacks on Syria. However, President Ahmadinejad added, Zionists do not dare to attack Iran. Stressing that the highest degree of freedom is guaranteed in Islam, he said Muslims have hoisted the flag of justice all over the world even for the people of Europe and Americas because the prosperity and justice promised in Islam are for the whole humanity. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian President turned to Syrian crisis saying that Tehran believed the Syrian government and nation have to settle the dispute by their own through dialogue. Stressing that Iran believed war was no proper way to solve the problem in Syria, he said Tehran endeavored to bring parties closer to each other. Fortunately, he added, signs are emerging that the goal is not far to achieve. Commenting on Iran-Egypt ties, President Ahmadinejad said Tehran and Cairo were like two brothers which were separated for a long time but could now play a complementary role in development of region through mutual cooperation. Certainly, he noted, evil forces were reluctant to see close cooperation between the two countries. He further voiced Iran’s readiness to bolster ties with Egypt without any restrictions since it considered development of Egypt as its own progress. Asked about Iran’s relations with its Persian Gulf neighbors, President Ahmadinejad said ties with the neighboring countries enjoyed very good conditions. He said two of Iran’s gas pipelines will reach the United Arab Emirates soon, raising the volume of Iran-UAE exchanges to about dlrs 16 billion. Saying that Iran’s ties with Kuwait and Qatar were vey good, he added that he had visited Saudi Arabia for five times upon Riyadh invitations. As to situation in Bahrain, he stressed that rights of Bahraini people should be observed and respected. He said Iran safeguards security of the Persian Gulf while the West is after sowing discord in the region to guarantee its own interests. He said cooperation among regional countries would turn western countries into losers. Saying that western countries sold arms to regional countries at annual cost of dlrs 50 billion, he said poverty would have completely vanished from the region had regional countries spent the amount on their own nations. He said the western countries were after dominating the Middle East region for its energy resources and their dominance over the region would mean ruling the whole world. President Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday at the official invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Mursi to attend the two-day summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The 12th OIC Summit, to kick off today, will focus on the Islamic world’s most urgent issues like crises in Syria, Mali and Palestine./end