Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the impending downfall
of the "US empire," blaming the collapse on a combination of the
country's massive debt and its loss of legitimacy within the
international community, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported
Thursday.
“How long can a government with a $16 trillion
foreign debt remain a world power?” he asked at a press conference with
Kuwaiti media personnel. "The Americans have injected their paper wealth
into the world economy and today the aftermaths and negative effects of
their pseudo-wealth have plagued them.”
He added: “An empire, or
a government, remains in power so long as the people under its power
support it, but today the Americans have acted in a way that the world
nations do not like them at all, and therefore, their international
legitimacy is annihilated.”
Ahmadinejad also predicted that the
West would soon drop their alliance with the "Zionist regime," saying
that Westerners and US politicians are increasingly "at a loss" as to
why Israel exists.
Downplaying the effect of Western sanctions on
the Iranian economy, Ahmadinejad said that the Islamic Republic would
persevere. "The hegemonic powers have no way [forward], but to change
the conditions.” Earlier this month, riots broke out in Tehran in
protest of the collapse of the rial currency, which has lost some
two-thirds of its value against the dollar in the past 15 months,
stoking inflation that is now running at around 25 percent.
Despite
his country's reeling economy, Ahmadinejad questioned who was really
suffering under the sanctions. "These sanctions are in fact imposed
against the European countries," he charged. "It has now been five years
that they have imposed sanctions against Iran, but the question is,
which one is experiencing tougher economic conditions, the EU, or the
Islamic Republic?”
Earlier this week, the EU agreed to impose
further sanctions against Iran's banking, shipping, and industrial
sectors, cranking up financial pressure on Tehran in the hope of drawing
it into serious negotiations on its nuclear program.
Turning to
his country's illicit nuclear program, Ahmadinejad termed Western
pressure as "boring," and expressed that his country would proceed in its
drive for a peacefully nuclear program. “Due to the political approach
of the world oppressor powers, the Iranian nuclear issue has become a
boring issue. Today everyone knows that the westerners are basically
opposed to the advancement of the Iranian nation and even if the nuclear
issue would be solved they would resort to another pretext, such as
Iran’s manufacturing of satellites, or even production of medicines, or
becoming a space power, to interfere in our internal affairs.”
Addressing increasing speculation that the Persian Gulf could become a flashpoint
for violence between the West and Iran, Ahmadinejad said his country
would respond to any threats posed against it. “I do not think such a
war would occur, because we all contribute to the establishment of
security in this region, but at any rate when the United States make
some threats, Iran, too, responses to them. Everyone knows that it is
not possible to urge the Iranian nation to retreat resorting to war
threat.”
Reuters contributed to this report