Ahmadinejad: The West is waiting for Iranian natural resources to dry up to "sell them at very high prices."
By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
Israel and the US would not dare to attack Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in an interview with Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama, on Monday.
Iran's official news agency, IRNA, reported that Ahmadinejad spoke in Kuala Lumpar, where he is to attend the sixth Summit of the Eight Islamic Developing Countries (D8).
"Not only the US and Israel, but a hundred others like them cannot attack Iran and they know it themselves," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.
He went on to say that US President George W. Bush "has many satanic and inhuman wishes, including confrontation with Iran," and that "none of his wishes have come true."
"They know the Iranian nation and are aware that they cannot talk to us with the language of force and threats. They must give in to the will of the Iranian nation," he added.
In the same interview, Ahmadinejad insisted that his country will not bow to Western demands to halt its uranium enrichment program.
Bernama quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that all nations should be able to use nuclear energy without any restrictions, stressing that it would provide them with a cheap alternative to crude oil.
World powers fear Iran could use the uranium to build nuclear weapons, but the country insists its enrichment work is to produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
Ahmadinejad said Western powers oppose Iran's quest for nuclear energy.
"They are expecting the day will come when our crude oil and gas will be finished. When that happens, they hope to sell these commodities to us at very high prices," the Bernama report quoted him as saying.
Ahmadinejad's comments came after Iran last week sent the European Union a response to an international offer of incentives for halting enrichment. The content of the response has not been made public.