Iran President Congratulates Nation for “Victory” in Nuclear Case
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad congratulated the Iranians for what he called a victory following the recent report by Muhammad al-Baradi’i on Iran’s nuclear case. In an address to the nation broadcast live on Iranian state TV, Ahmadinezhad said: “We will continue to remain united and resist pressures. Neither they [westerners] nor their followers can bring us to our knees. Their problem is that they do not know the Iranians very well yet. They do not realize the power, greatness and grandeur of the Iranian nation and that is why they repeatedly make mistakes. Thanks to God, as long as the Iranian nation is vigilant, united and is resisting against the pressures, all their mistakes will turn into victory for the Iranian nation.” The following is a text of report by state-run Iranian TV channel one on 23 February. Subheads inserted editorially:
[Correspondent] In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Hello our dear viewers. Tonight we have a talk with Dr Mahmud Ahmadinezhad our honourable president regarding the recent report of [Muhammad] Al-Baradi’i which confirmed Iranians’ righteousness. Hello to you Dr [Ahmadinezhad].
[Ahmadinezhad] Hello to you. I wish a good night for you and the Iranian people.
[Correspondent] Mr President. Thirty hours passed from the release of Al-Baradi’i's report. The interesting point is that as I monitored the news, the content of the report has been almost completely boycotted by the western media. We have heard that the White House has ordered that. Why and for what reason do they try so much to prevent Iran making any progress in nuclear issue?
[Ahmadinezhad] In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Oh, God, hasten the arrival of Imam al- Mahdi and grant him good health and victory, and make us his best companions and supporters and those who attest to his rightfulness.
Our nation knows the hegemonic system. The hegemonic system is based on monopolization of power and abilities. It is based on monopolization of world wealth and control. We have two distinct parts in the nuclear issue. Many times these two parts are interlinked, but they are completely different. One of them is nuclear technology. Nuclear technology is a very unique one. It is so important that a few countries have kept it under their own monopoly and they want to preserve this monopoly. It is may be one of their means to dominate the world for a long time.
History of Iran’s nuclear case
The second part is the political aspect of the nuclear issue. It has been thirty years that they have been constantly publicizing that the Iranian nation has become isolated and is lagging behind. They told the world that they had been able to undermine Iran in a bid to prevent other countries from following Iran’s path. They said that the only outcome of following Iran’s path would be backwardness and underdevelopment.
They publicized this extensively through hundreds of media outlets spending billions. At a time, they realized that, despite their desire, and under pressures and threat, the Iranian nation had suddenly achieved nuclear technology. That is to say while they were sitting among each other in a small group at a high position administering the world – and in many cases they had a work division among themselves – they suddenly realized that a country such as Iran which they preferred not to be [had achieved such a technology]. We will never forget the statements by their secretary of defence in the Persian Gulf who said that they want to uproot the Iranian nation.
This is what they have repeatedly said. Even if they don’t say this [anymore], we understand from the tone of their statements that this is what they wish for. They suddenly realized that Iran has come to the top and wants to push them aside and sit next to them, at the top level of world administration.
It was really difficult for them to digest this. This was especially difficult for them because Iran serves as a model for others. Iran opens an avenue which is quickly chosen by other nations and countries. In the past whenever the Iranian nation made a decision and started a great move, the waves of its move influenced other nations. This is why they were against this [Iran's progress]. They are still against it. Imam [Khomeyni] had said this repeatedly. You can see that the same is happening now.
Otherwise, they were not able to identify any legal fault in Iran’s nuclear activities. They were not able to track any fault from the very beginning. They made up a story. They well know that they have made it up. There is no legal basis for their claims. It was politically important for them not to allow Iran to reach the present point.
Their objective was to slow down Iran’s progress so that it could never arrive at an irreversible point. They constantly sought excuses. They intended to take Iranian nation’s time by asking Iran to do different things and to discuss various issues. They did not want to allow Iran to reach the technological advancement in due time in a natural way.
They did not want this to happen, mainly because of the political results of this move for the Iranian nation. They were not concerned with the technological aspect of the issue, though that was also very important.
The [nuclear] technology is used in our industry, agriculture, medicine and other fields. This technology is especially important in our energy sector. We should produce 20,000 MW of electricity. But even more important is the political effects of it for the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic.
[Presenter] Dr Ahmadinezhad what happened that we have now reached this point in the nuclear field. This was a process anyway. Do you have anything that has remained unsaid about the days that we went through?
[Ahmadinezhad] There are a lot of unsaid things. For certain considerations of which the Iranian nation is aware, I cannot mention everything. But allow us to take a look at the process. The nuclear issue in its new format, that is to say Iran’s nuclear adventure, started from Tir 1381 [June 2002]. A group of Monafeqin [reference to Mojahedin Khalq Organization, MKO] published a report on Natanz, Arak and other places. Some sensitivity was created and the agency got involved followed by the declarations by the Board of Governors one after the other.
Since Mehr 1382 [September 2003], that is about a year and two months after the adventure [publication of a report by MKO], the foreign ministers of three European countries paid a visit to Tehran and proposed to help Iran to pass through a process so that its case would be settled at the agency. This was after a resolution and a declaration was issued by the Board of Governors against Iran.
We agreed that they should be taking certain measures and Iran should make certain moves. Our move meant to stop all our nuclear activities no matter at what stage they were. This side acted as it was told. But instead of stopping its activities at the agency, the other side issued two or three new resolutions against Iran. They gathered in France again. They once again agreed that another part of the activities should stop, and they agreed to continue their discussions in Brussels.
In the meantime, another resolution was issued. In Brussels it was agreed that even manufacture of parts, research and any activity related to Iran’s nuclear issue should be stopped.
On the other side the resolutions began to get tougher and tougher and threatening to take the nuclear issue to the Security Council continued to the extent that they were saying we should not have nuclear programmes. Then they said that in return for cancelling this [nuclear activities], they will give us a programme for mutual cooperation. They presented the programme in Mordad 84, 14 Mordad 84 [5 August 2006]. It was the time when this government came to power. Before the confirmation of this programme, we had a meeting and requested them to start the process. We could see for two years that with all the advantages we were giving, they were expecting more. Each time that we were shutting something down, instead of saying “thank you, this shows your honesty and that you have done what you were supposed to”, they made the list of their requirements [correspondent finished his sentence: longer] longer. They increased it more and more. Naturally this government was not going to accept that. I also told the people of Iran during the elections that one of my missions is to follow up the nuclear rights of this nation completely and stand by it. It was decided to begin the process. A few days after the confirmation [of the programme] on 12, 13 Mordad, it began. A notice was presented to the agency [International Atomic Energy Agency] informing them that we wanted to make Esfahan active. A few days later they gave us their proposals. It is interesting for the Iranian nation to know their proposals. It is in detail, its text is long. In short it says that “you should give up enrichment and any fuel production forever and in return we will send you our people to train you on using internet, we will let you trade with us, and if a nuclear country attacks you we will let you complain to the Security Council”.
We said: thank you very much, but this is an insult to the Iranian nation. We said: we do not accept this. The Board of Governors and the agency started issuing resolutions. They said: We will refer you to the Security Council. We said: If you refer our case to the Security Council, we will start nuclear work at Natanz nuclear plant too. They thought we were joking. They referred us to the Security Council and we started work at Natanz nuclear plant. We said if you issue a resolution, we will start a nuclear fuel cycle. They issued a resolution, and on 22 Farvardin 1385 [11 April 2006] we finished our research fuel cycle, and produced uranium enriched at 3.5 per cent, which is suitable for nuclear plants.
They continued their approach but said that they have a new package for us. They offered a new package in Tir [Month beginning 22 June]. We said: OK, we need two month to review this proposal and give you an answer, we will give you an answer at the end of Mordad [Month beginning 22 July]. They then, issued another resolution against us before the end of Mordad. We said: If you issue another resolution, we will take further steps. Again, they did not believe us. They had an old image of Iran keep retreating and they keep increasing their demands and so on. They though that cycle can be repeated. We said: Ok, the additional protocol will have to be put aside. We had accepted the additional protocol for no extra concessions and without it being approved by the Majlis. According to the constitution all international agreements should be approved by the Majlis. In other words, we had given them the biggest concession in order to build confidence. But they were not satisfied with this either. They wanted to take it further.
They issued the first resolution which imposed sanctions. We said: Ok, if you impose sanctions, we will take the next step. They never imagined that we could take a new step. They issued the resolution imposing sanctions, and we called off the agreement on executive procedures which was the biggest concession we had given to them. In other words, any one in Iran, who wanted to start any form of nuclear work, first and foremost had to inform them [presumably the agency]. This is against all current regulations at the agency. This means all thoughts should be locked. Because they do not know what will happen next, if you think of a particular plan. In other word we had to lock away all the thoughts of our scientists. We said: This is bullying and cancelled it.
They issued the second resolution imposing sanction. We started the industrial stage. After we started the industrial stage, they took a step back. They said let us sit down and negotiate. We sat down at the negotiating table and agreed that they put all their questions on the table and we would answer these questions within a timeframe. We agreed that when all the questions are answered the nuclear case is closed and will return to normality. It was then, when I announced that Iran’s nuclear case is closed. The reason was this: The problems started when our nuclear case was referred from the agency, which is a legal authority, to negotiations at Security Council which have no specific legal framework, where there is no rule of law. What rules there is bullying. Then, when it returns back to the agency, the agency has the duty to observe the law. They may bully us but cannot legally convict us. We can say: If you have any evidence then you can present it in accordance with the regulations and we will respond to you. They raised six issues. They said: All we are concerned about are these six issues. We said: Anything else? They said: Some countries have also raised certain claims. We said: We cannot regard other countries’ claims as criteria. They said: OK, once you have responded to the six issues, we will submit the claims to you and after your have given your views on those claims the nuclear case will be normalized. In other words the nuclear case will be legally closed.
They issued the first resolution which imposed sanctions. We said: Ok, if you impose sanctions, we will take the next step. They never imagined that we could take a new step. They issued the resolution imposing sanctions, and we called off the agreement on executive procedures which was the biggest concession we had given to them. In other words, any one in Iran, who wanted to start any form of nuclear work, first and foremost had to inform them [presumably the agency]. This is against all current regulations at the agency. This means all thoughts should be locked. Because they do not know what will happen next, if you think of a particular plan. In other word we had to lock away all the thoughts of our scientists. We said: This is bullying and cancelled it.
They issued the second resolution imposing sanction. We started the industrial stage. After we started the industrial stage, they took a step back. They said let us sit down and negotiate. We sat down at the negotiating table and agreed that they put all their questions on the table and we would answer these questions within a timeframe. We agreed that when all the questions are answered the nuclear case is closed and will return to normality. It was then, when I announced that Iran’s nuclear case is closed. The reason was this: The problems started when our nuclear case was referred from the agency, which is a legal authority, to negotiations at Security Council which have no specific legal framework, where there is no rule of law. What rules there is bullying. Then, when it returns back to the agency, the agency has the duty to observe the law. They may bully us but cannot legally convict us. We can say: If you have any evidence then you can present it in accordance with the regulations and we will respond to you. They raised six issues. They said: All we are concerned about are these six issues. We said: Anything else? They said: Some countries have also raised certain claims. We said: We cannot regard other countries’ claims as criteria. They said: OK, once you have responded to the six issues, we will submit the claims to you and after your have given your views on those claims the nuclear case will be normalized. In other words the nuclear case will be legally closed.
On Paris, New York negotiations
This was exactly why the IAEA condemned us when we started our activities at Esfahan. Of course, the IAEA acted illegally. This is because the IAEA shouldn’t carry out its duties under the influence of political issues. But it was under pressure. It condemned us and asked why had started our activities at Esfahan. Well, we had suspended the activities at Esfahan on a voluntary basis. When one does something voluntarily, he can stop doing it whenever he wants. However, during the negotiations in Paris, France, they said that such a thing [suspension of Iran's nuclear activities] is vital for the continuation of negotiations and we can’t ignore this. Well when they say such a thing, this issue becomes a commitment.
It’s interesting for you to know that in the first incentive package which they offered to us and we said that they had insulted us, they had said that we have to completely abandon our nuclear activities. When we said that this was an insult to the Iranian nation, we went to New York where the three foreign ministers of those three countries [UK, France and Germany] met with our friends. There, they said some very interesting things. They said that we would have to suspend our activities, close down everything and destroy all our installations.
[Presenter]: Who said this Mr president?
[Ahmadinezhad]: The foreign ministers of those three European countries. In France, they had said that we would have to stop manufacturing parts and suspend any research work in that regard. They said that even though such measures are considered voluntary, we are obliged to do it. This process has shown that whenever we take a step back.
UN Security Council’s action illegal
[Presenter]: Mr Ahmadinezhad. Even though this great development has taken place regarding Iran’s nuclear issue and Iran’s righteousness has been proven, they are still continuing work on their resolutions and sanctions and Iran’s nuclear issue is still being deliberated at the UN Security Council. What do you think about this?
[Ahmadinezhad]: In principle, the Security Council’s action was illegal. They know this themselves. The Security Council is the highest international decision-making body. Its decisions have to be very precise. However, unfortunately this council acted weakly in regards to Iran’s case. I can remember when Saddam [Husayn] attacked Iran and occupied more than 3000 km of our country’s soil they were not prepared to issue a resolution to announce a ceasefire or issue a resolution against Saddam Husayn. They though that Saddam’s promise to capture Tehran in three days would materialize. They were waiting for Saddam to seize Tehran and then say that nothing was needed to be done. We have witnessed such things before. They allow the aggressor to complete its operation and call a ceasefire as soon as the party whose rights are being violated decides to put up a resistance. Well, the Iranian nation and our vigilant Imam [Khomeyni] knew this. They didn’t issue a resolution.
However, as far as the nuclear issue is concerned, it was based on wrong information [as heard]. But now everything has become clear. The IAEA’s report is saying that there is no deviation in Iran’s nuclear activities and none of the anti-Iran information which has been given to the IAEA is true. At the end of the day, everything was summarized into six questions and we told them to give us any evidence they had.
On US claims, forgery of documents
Another issue is the claims which are being made. Well, many claims have been and will continue to be made. These claims, like the papers which the Americans have recently handed over to them, have no legal basis for us.
[Presenter]: Mr president. At some stage Mr Al-Baradi’i said that he has shut the door to these claims. This means that legally any claims which a country makes will not have an affect on the case.
[President]: There is a law in that regard. If a member makes a claim against another member, the case has to go through a long legal process. They will study the claim. If it is proven that the claim is false, then the member which has made the claim has to pay compensation and be prosecuted.
[Presenter]: So it’s not that easy?
[President]: It’s not that easy. It’s a pile of papers. It’s funny. It’s like the computer games which five-year-old children play. Our fifth year primary school pupils can forge documents better than them.
[Presenter]: Mr president. I heard that before Al-Baradi’i published his report, they added five or six claims to the ones they had already made.
[President]: The interesting thing is that they have done this and asked him find the answers to them without telling Iran. What are they talking about? If you don’t mention them how can we answer them? This is whilst, according to regulations, we don’t need to answer them. Any claims which a member makes have to go through the IAEA’s legal channels. They concocted some documents, wrote letters to each other and discussed various things before announcing that they have discovered important documents. It’s not difficult to make up these things. A child who is a computer whiz can sit down and forge these documents better than them. They have forged these things very amateurishly.
[Presenter]: So despite all of this, nearly all the question have been answered.
[President]: Yes. We have answered them. The claims which the agency made and were within the framework of our agreement have been responded to. However, when the deadline was reached and they [the IAEA] began to write the final report, once again the Americans came back and presented some papers [documents] they said they had found on a computer [drive] which had been given to them by someone who has died.
Criticizing UN Security Council
[Presenter] Dr Ahmadinezhad, I think that the al-Baradi’i's report showed that their claims do not have a legal base. From now on, whatever comes up is because of the 30-year hostility of America and a few countries against us.
[Ahmadinezhad] Exactly, we did not recognize the [Security Council] resolutions from the very beginning. They had no legal foundation in our view. We do not accept the decisions that are made based on false information. They are now attempting to solve their own problems. They made a grave mistake and brought the credibility of the UN Security Council [UNSC] into question.
They almost destroyed the IAEA’s credibility. The agency has been able to somehow regain its credibility, although not completely. They [members of UNSC] are concerned about themselves. They say that we have made a decision together. What should we do about the decisions that we have made. The best solution for them is to admit their mistakes. But if they want to continue their path, this will be their decision. This would be nothing new for our nation. I however predict that they would come to their minds. There are some logical people among those 15 members [of the UN Security Council]. It is very funny. This is a blemish on their management system in the world.
It has been a disgrace already. It has shown that their systems can’t manage the world like this. Iran was announcing all the time that this information is false. Even their own intelligence services have told them that the information is false. Although their president was aware of this [NIE report] six months before it was published, however he came out and talked against Iran. It is obvious that they are not honest to the rest of the world. They just want to bully [us]. The best thing for them is to make up for their mistakes. But they have to know that from now we will reconsider our behaviour. Before this time, one [presumably foreign countries] might have been uncertain about our nuclear programme, but now it has become clear that there are no serious questions. The documents and claims were false. Iran’s programme is absolutely legal and Iran has had outmost cooperation with the IAEA and gained very little instead. It is IAEA’s duty to help us in the technology sector. That’s why we are a member to it. We must be really stupid to be a member of an organization that offers no services. No one would be willing to join such organization. They’ll say why should we join there to give concessions all the time? Well, what will we get in return? At any rate, we cooperated.
Iran will not give any concessions
Now that this has happened, if they intend to continue the same path, we will not be the ones who suffer. They know it themselves. Let them issue resolutions for hundreds of years. Resolutions are not our redline. The mistake that was made in the past was that the red line was the referral of the case to the Security Council. We said that the red line is the Iranian nation’s right. We will not back down even an iota from the Iranian nation’s right and they should know that we will not give them any concessions. They have made a mistake and they have to make up for this mistake and apologize. If they choose another path, then we will demand compensation from them. They know that the Iranian nation will carry out any decision it makes. They have experienced this for 28 years. We will not suffer because of their behaviour. We were faced with the sanctions imposed unilaterally by the US and its allies when we went nuclear, and made other achievement such as acquiring stem cell technology, and made various progress in medical, agricultural and industrial fields and sciences such as mathematics and nano- technology. We will not lose anything. The world is a big place and they are too small to take over the world. But it’s in their interests if they correct their behaviour and turn back to the correct path. They shouldn’t ask us to give them concessions so that they can make up for their mistake. This isn’t going to happen. They are playing these games so that they can get new concessions from us in order to make up for their mistake. This isn’t going to happen. Mr Al-Baradi’i has written some points in his report but that isn’t the case. Why should we give any concessions? They have a mistake by referring the case to the UN Security Council. They have to refer it back [to the IAEA] themselves but they aren’t doing. They can keep it there [at the UNSC] until they grow tired. It doesn’t matter to us. What credibility does a resolution which has no legal justification and is based on force have? During the past 30 years, our nation has learned how to live and defend its right. Of course as far as we are concerned, the case is closed. If anyone struggles any further, they will suffer themselves. The world atmosphere has changed now. I mean that if a country decides to impose its will on 15 other countries by force, it will have signed its own death warrant. It will mark the end of its existence and it will not be classed as a concession for it.
[Presenter]: Thank you. Did you see the footage shown of the celebrations during the 1400 gmt and other news bulletins?
[President]: No not this afternoon because I had a meeting with the students.
[presenter]: God willing, before the New Year we’ll visit you one evening and ask you questions that have nothing to do with the nuclear issue.
Nuclear issue and oil industry nationalization
[President]: If you allow me, I would like to say something to the Iranian nation. I believe that a great development has taken place. Politically, the nuclear issue is hundreds of time more significant than the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. The nationalization of the oil industry was a great event. I mean it was a great leap by the Iranian nation against colonialists which had big repercussions across the globe. However, the enemy bypassed us and didn’t allow the Iranian nation to use this great victory. The repercussions of that victory were much less than the repercussions caused by the nuclear issue. Even though we gained control of our oil resources but they bypassed us and took control of them again. This didn’t give us any political power in the world. It didn’t place us beside the world’s five or six powerful countries. However, the nuclear issue has placed Iran alongside the few countries which possess and have monopolized this technology. This means that it has improved Iran’s political standing by 100 ranks. This victory is a great victory. It is the result of steadfastness, unity, following the ideals, and carrying out the orders of the revolution. This is what our nation is doing. Of course we need initiative. As you and the Iranian nation know, during the nuclear issue heavy diplomatic activities were carried out. A lot of work was done. However, all of this work was supported and based on the Iranian nation’s resistance. Well, I saw some very nice scenes. I said have said this on television before. I went to Bashagard during my recent provincial visit, in which you didn’t come. We went to one of the villages called Bashagard. As soon as my helicopter landed the people gathered around. Their first slogan was “nuclear energy is our undeniable right”. They told me to continue resisting and promised to support me. Bashagard is the symbol of deprivation in the country. They were shouting and when I spoke for them for a few minutes, they completed my sentences with their slogans. This was very exciting for me. Of course, they did this in Bandar Abbas, but in Bashagard it was much more clear and explicit. Well this is a result of unity.
West has made mistakes
The pressure which was imposed during the past two-and-a-half years was very heavy. They conducted a very heavy psychological war against our nation. They did whatever they could. They threatened us militarily and issued two resolutions. They even went beyond imposing sanctions. They took action against us which was not included in their resolutions. This was something new. For example, in their resolution they said that they should move two steps forward but some of them moved up to 10 steps forward. They allowed the threatening atmosphere against us to reach its peak. They went as far as deploying warships and aircraft and preparing their missiles. Many times they even set dates [for an attack] and even started to exert pressures through secret channels. They exerted heavy pressure and said that it’s dangerous, dangerous and dangerous. Some inside the country reflected this psychological war against the Iranian nation. They used the two UN resolutions to beat me on the head and say that my mistake had made them [the West] issue two resolutions. Instead of clubbing them [the West] on the head and asking them why they had issued the two resolutions and saying that they had done this illegally and unfairly, they were beating me on the head. Well, if we were to hand everything over so that they wouldn’t issue a resolution, we would have gone back to the former process. We would have given in and they would have issued the resolution.
We have not handed over anything and we have gained something. We have gone nuclear. Their resolution is worthless. They know this themselves. They truly know this and during negotiations they say that they don’t know what to do. They are confused and are trying to resolve their own and not our problems. The other party has problems. They have made a great historic mistake and they have to get out of it somehow. Based on legal documents, the Agency’s report has proved that our activities were lawful from the very beginning.
Iran will react to West’s “silly behaviour”
It is now proved that their claim regarding Iran having clandestine nuclear activities for 18 years were all lies. The Agency said that they could not see any sign of this [Iran's clandestine activities]. They repeated this a few times. We can prove our claim, no diversion from our side was observed by the Agency. Our activities were never for military use. These facts are all very clear. We answered all of their questions concerning the military aspects of our work and they accepted that what we said was right. The problem is from the other side. From now on our path is the same as before. We will continue to remain united and resist [pressures]. Neither they nor their followers can bring us to our knees. Their problem is that they do not know the Iranians very well yet. They do not realize the power, greatness and grandeur of the Iranian nation and that is why they repeatedly make mistakes. Thanks to God, as long as the Iranian nation is vigilant, united and is resisting against the pressures, all their mistakes will turn into victory for the Iranian nation.
As far as we are concerned, the case is now closed and from now on whatever they do will be like silly behaviour by a spoilt child. It does not mean that a major incident will happen in the world. The superpowers make such silly behaviours. Well, let them behave like a spoilt child, may be some one will pay some attention to them. The Iranian nation will definitely not pay attention to them. If they continue [their silly behaviour] we definitely have measures in place to take retaliatory actions. Whichever country leads others in confronting the Iranian nation it will soon realize that the Iranian nation will act differently towards them. They must know this. Iran will behave differently, whether that country is European or non- European. If they want to lead the way [to confront Iran] and then for example ask us to keep a certain good for them or take care of some money for them, they should know that from now on we will act firmly. We do not joke with any of them and they should know that we will be firm.
Of course we favour friendship, we are friends with everyone and would like to have relations with all countries. The Iranian nation has been very noble towards them. They are indebted to us. We do not owe them anything. They were in the wrong and they levelled accusations against us, they behaved badly so should apologize to us. They keep the Iranian nation waiting for four or five years, two and a half years [as heard]. They halted the process of our scientific progress in the nuclear field. They need to pay compensations to us. Now that gentleman again in an interview has said that the Security Council is not related to the Agency’s report. This means that Iran’s nuclear issue is not related to Iran’s nuclear issue [as heard]! Well, we knew from the beginning that you were pursuing other objectives and that the nuclear issue was a mere excuse. Now that the matter is out of your hands, you are angry. That’s fine, have a drink of cold water to cool down [says jokingly and laughs].
[Presenter] Thank you very much for giving this interview, it was very kind of you.
[Ahmadinezhad] I wish you success. I congratulate the Iranian nation. If it wasn’t the month of Safar we would have definitely organized a celebration for this occasion. But in respect to the month of Safar [Muslims mourning ceremonies] we would postpone it to 20 Farfadin [8 April] which is the national day for nuclear technology, we should hold national celebration in our country.
[Presenter] 20 Farvardin?
[Ahmadinezhad] 20 Farvardin.
[Presenter] Thank you very much and good night.
Originally published by Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1, Tehran, in Persian 1815 23 Feb 08.
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